title: Evaluation of management strategies for reducing nitrogen loadings to four US estuaries.
abstract: In this study we used the Watershed Assessment Tool for Evaluating Reduction Strategies for Nitrogen (WATERSN) model to evaluate a variety of management strategies for reducing nitrogen (N) loads to four US east coast estuaries: Casco Bay, Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay and Pamlico Sound. These management strategies encompass reductions in atmospheric emissions and deposition of N from sources including, fossil fuel burning utility emissions and mobile NO(x) emissions, N treatment in wastewater and controls on agricultural N inputs. We find that in primarily urban watersheds biological removal of N in wastewater treatment produces the greatest reduction in N loading (32-57% reductions), while in less urban watersheds, reductions in agricultural loading are more effective (5-56% reductions) in decreasing N loads to coastal ecosystems. Because anthropogenic N inputs are derived from a variety of sources, we also examined an integrated scenario targeting all major N sources; this resulted in 35-58% reductions in N loading. Nitrogen pollution originates from multiple sources and is transported through several media (air, soil, water); a major challenge of the development of N management strategies will be the control of multiple sources to effectively reduce N loads to estuaries.
authors.affiliation: Hubbard Brook Research Foundation and Syracuse University, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY 13244, USA. dave.whitall@noaa.gov
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Whitall
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Castro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Driscoll
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D017753:Ecosystem; D005068:Eutrophication; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D017745:Incineration; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014481:United States; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014876:Water Pollution / Q000517:prevention & control*; D014881:Water Supply
chemical_list: D005579:Fossil Fuels; D009584:Nitrogen