Articles | Volume 20, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1851-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1851-2016
Research article
 | 
11 May 2016
Research article |  | 11 May 2016

High-frequency monitoring reveals nutrient sources and transport processes in an agriculture-dominated lowland water system

Bas van der Grift, Hans Peter Broers, Wilbert Berendrecht, Joachim Rozemeijer, Leonard Osté, and Jasper Griffioen

Abstract. Many agriculture-dominated lowland water systems worldwide suffer from eutrophication caused by high nutrient loads. Insight in the hydrochemical functioning of embanked polder catchments is highly relevant for improving the water quality in such areas or for reducing export loads to downstream water bodies. This paper introduces new insights in nutrient sources and transport processes in a polder in the Netherlands situated below sea level using high-frequency monitoring technology at the outlet, where the water is pumped into a higher situated lake, combined with a low-frequency water quality monitoring programme at six locations within the drainage area. Seasonal trends and short-scale temporal dynamics in concentrations indicated that the NO3 concentration at the pumping station originated from N loss from agricultural lands. The NO3 loads appear as losses via tube drains after intensive rainfall events during the winter months due to preferential flow through the cracked clay soil. Transfer function-noise modelling of hourly NO3 concentrations reveals that a large part of the dynamics in NO3 concentrations during the winter months can be related to rainfall. The total phosphorus (TP) concentration and turbidity almost doubled during operation of the pumping station, which points to resuspension of particulate P from channel bed sediments induced by changes in water flow due to pumping. Rainfall events that caused peaks in NO3 concentrations did not results in TP concentration peaks. The rainfall induced and NO3 enriched quick interflow, may also be enriched in TP but retention of TP due to sedimentation of particulate P then results in the absence of rainfall induced TP concentration peaks. Increased TP concentrations associated with run-off events is only observed during a rainfall event at the end of a freeze–thaw cycle. All these observations suggest that the P retention potential of polder water systems is primarily due to the artificial pumping regime that buffers high flows. As the TP concentration is affected by operation of the pumping station, timing of sampling relative to the operating hours of the pumping station should be accounted for when calculating P export loads, determining trends in water quality, or when judging water quality status of polder water systems.

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Short summary
High-frequency water quality measurements at a pumping station where excess water is pumped out of a polder catchment have indicated that nitrate from agricultural areas is drained away relatively quickly in wet periods, but that phosphate is actually retained much more in polder systems than in free drainage areas. Phosphate emissions occur, therefore, not predominantly in winter, but due to the delayed release from the bed sediments and by feeding from the groundwater, rather in summer.