Novel methods for reducing agricultural nutrient loading and eutrophication

In many intensively cultivated areas, surface and ground waters suffer from eutrophication and deterioration of the water quality: To improve the environmental protection actions of agriculture, EU countries have adopted common legislation, such as Nitrate Directive and the Water Framework Directive, which set limits to the use of manure and aim at good ecological state of waters by 2015, respectively. Moreover, different voluntary measures and environmental schemes are being supported financially by EU and national goverments to reduce agricultural nutrient loading and eutrophication, for instance by optimizing phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) fertilization, controlling erosion and promoting the establishment of buffer zones and wetlands. Yet, good ecological state appears to be unattainable in many agriculturally loaded water bodies in the near future. Former accumulation of nutrients in soils and sediments retards the recovery of waters, implementation of environmentally friendly measures may be inadequate, or the measures themselves are inefficient. There is an obvious need for novel methods and new techniques that speed up the load reduction and the recovery of different types of water bodies and that could be easily adopted by farmers and put into practice by other stakeholders in the river basins. The aim of this workshop, held at MTT Agrifood Research in June 2010, is to discuss novel methods for reducing agricultural nutrient losses and alleviating their effects in water bodies. The novel methods may include: - chemical amendments to reduce soil loss or to immobilize P in soils or in wetlands; - filter systems to remove P from field runoff; - removal of N from runoff waters by fixation to innovative materials; - use of sediment traps; - capturing P in sediments. Targeted and cost-effective use of such methods requires that we recognise the sources and transport routes of nutrients, critical steps in the load generating processes and the magnitude of responses in the rivers, lakes and coastal waters suffering from eutrophication. Moreover, the limitations, possible risks and side-effects must be evaluated. This issue of MTT Science gathers together the abstracts of oral and poster presentations held in the workshop