title: Emerging technologies for removing nonpoint phosphorus from surface water and groundwater: introduction.
abstract: Coastal and freshwater eutrophication continues to accelerate at sites around the world despite intense efforts to control agricultural P loss using traditional conservation and nutrient management strategies. To achieve required reductions in nonpoint P over the next decade, new tools will be needed to address P transfers from soils and applied P sources. Innovative remediation practices are being developed to remove nonpoint P sources from surface water and groundwater using P sorbing materials (PSMs) derived from natural, synthetic, and industrial sources. A wide array of technologies has been conceived, ranging from amendments that immobilize P in soils and manures to filters that remove P from agricultural drainage waters. This collection of papers summarizes theoretical modeling, laboratory, field, and economic assessments of P removal technologies. Modeling and laboratory studies demonstrate the importance of evaluating P removal technologies under controlled conditions before field deployment, and field studies highlight several challenges to P removal that may be unanticipated in the laboratory, including limited P retention by filters during storms, as well as clogging of filters due to sedimentation. Despite the potential of P removal technologies to improve water quality, gaps in our knowledge remain, and additional studies are needed to characterize the long-term performance of these technologies, as well as to more fully understand their costs and benefits in the context of whole-farm- and watershed-scale P management.
authors.affiliation: ARS, Pawsture Systems and Watershed Management Research Unit, University Park, PA 16802, USA. Anthony.Buda@ars.usda.gov
authors.forename: Anthony R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Buda
authors.forename: Gerwin F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Koopmans
authors.forename: Ray B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Bryant
authors.forename: Wim J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Chardon
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D060587:Groundwater / Q000737:chemistry*; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000737:chemistry*; D011998:Recreation; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*; D018508:Water Purification / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D010758:Phosphorus