Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/L009218/1
Constructed wetlands in the agricultural landscape: quantifying ecosystem services for water resource protection and integrated catchment management
Training Grant Award
- Lead Supervisor:
- Professor P Jarvis, Cranfield University, School of Water, Energy and Environment
- Grant held at:
- Cranfield University, School of Water, Energy and Environment
- Science Area:
- Atmospheric
- Earth
- Freshwater
- Marine
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Freshwater
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Eleven utility companies in the UK use surface waters as their main source of drinking water. Thus, the management of point and non-point sources of pollution into these waters is imperative to mitigate environmental and human health risks and keep the lowest possible charges to customers for the service provided. To date, this has been primarily through the addition of treatment units at sewage works to improve water quality before discharge to rivers and Water Works (WW) to remove residual pollutants before supply. It has been widely recognised that to tackle pesticide pollution of surface waters, additional treatment at WW is not always sufficient. As a result, a comprehensive approach is needed where product substitution by easier-to-remove chemicals is maximised through influencing the chemical industry, and engaging with stakeholders to modify pesticide application rates, timing and improved runoff management. Within the latter, changes in climate patterns and farming practices add uncertainties to predictions of pollutant transport and therefore pollutant loads and flows to be treated at WW, resulting in many peaks that exceed the existing treatment capacities. There is potential for onsite treatment technologies like constructed wetlands to help tackle agricultural runoff that provide a multitude of ecosystem services in addition to water filtration, including buffering of water flows and pollutant loads (both pesticides and nutrients), water storage for irrigation uses and biodiversity enhancement in the agricultural landscape. This has been incorporated into the Catchment Sensitive Farming initiative (Natural England, 2013). Wetland sizing criteria are critical, with smaller systems proven to favour implementation by farmers as less land is taken offline. However, for wetlands to deliver resource protection in an integrated catchment management (ICM) approach it is essential to quantify the ecosystem services and provide context for data interpretation. This will enable simple but robust assessments of tradeoffs and support the best option for society and the environment. This projects aims to quantify the individual and collective benefits of using wetland systems for agricultural runoff management. The work will be delivered through a combination of field surveys of agricultural runoff events in a selected catchment and testing of a wetland's contribution to pesticide and nutrient removal. The characterisation of biodegradation rates, settling and sorption within different wetland configurations will enable the delineation of key features to incorporate in wetland design, achievable targets and quantifiable ecosystem services. The end products will include a guide written for the end users (farmers, government bodies, private sector, third sector) to select the best wetland design to achieve their desired targets and the tradeoffs involved in the decision making. Severn Trent Water (STW) relies on a combination of water sources for drinking water supply, with 64% of these abstracted from surface waters. The protection of these source waters through innovative approaches like this is critical for the company and the Water Industry as a whole to meet challenging water quality standards more frequently and will reduce the chemicals and energy needed to treat these waters, and will contribute to STW's goal of being the best in the UK by leading the industry towards a more sustainable future. Additional beneficiaries will be drinking water consumers will also have higher quality drinking water, and farmers and landowners who will benefit through improved run-off management strategies that will reduce their net pollutant burden. Collaboration with this industrial partner is essential for an in-depth assessment of the impact of wetland use in the agricultural landscape on drinking water sources, to enable integrated river catchment management and contribute to water resource security.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/L009218/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- DTG - directed
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Industrial CASE
This training grant award has a total value of £83,515
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Fees | Total - Student Stipend | Total - RTSG |
|---|---|---|
| £16,226 | £56,292 | £11,000 |
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