Please note that this session was withdrawn and is no longer available in the respective programme. This withdrawal might have been the result of a merge with another session.
HS2.3.6 | Novel monitoring and modelling approaches to inform the management of agricultural water pollution in tropical environments
EDI
Novel monitoring and modelling approaches to inform the management of agricultural water pollution in tropical environments
Convener: Aaron NeillECSECS | Co-conveners: Suzanne JacobsECSECS, Christian Birkel, Frank Masese, Sim Reaney
Aquatic ecosystems and the services they provide are increasingly threatened by impaired water quality arising from multiple pressures, including climate and land-use change. In areas experiencing agricultural intensification, the increasing application of inorganic fertiliser, coupled with climate-induced changes to nutrient cycling and runoff generation, can result in the eutrophication of receiving waters, including rivers, lakes and the marine environment. Sources of nutrients, along with other pollutants such as E. coli, may be further enhanced through increases in livestock densities. Such issues particularly affect middle-income tropical countries where growing populations and the need for food security are driving a transition from traditional farming methods to more intensive forms of agriculture.

Effectively mitigating agricultural water pollution whilst simultaneously limiting the impact on productivity requires sound knowledge of the sources and pathways of pollutants in time and space. This will likely be achieved through the integration of data and models to produce decision support tools that are useful and used by those responsible for water management. However, many existing water quality models lack the fine spatial discretisation necessary to inform localised targeting of mitigation measures. In addition, many tropical catchments suffer from infrequent monitoring of water quality due to limited funding and lack of expertise, reducing the potential for model-data fusion.

The aim of this session is to bring together scientists exploring novel approaches to water quality monitoring and modelling that can provide a robust understanding of agricultural pollutant sources and pathways in time and space. The main focus will be on the tropics, however contributions from other environments that are transferable can be considered. Example topics for contributions include:

• Opportunities and challenges for enhancing data collection in data-sparse environments,
• Low-cost technologies for water quality monitoring,
• GIS-based models or models with minimal information requirements,
• Process-based modelling and approaches to uncertainty estimation and/or reduction,
• Translation of research models into decision support tools.