title: A groundwater perspective on the river basin management plan for central Portugal - developing a methodology to assess the potential impact of N fertilizers on groundwater bodies.
abstract: The Water Framework Directive establishes that the river basin management plans must have a summary of the pressures and impacts of human activities, such as agriculture, on the chemical and quantitative status of groundwater bodies. In order to identify those areas where a potential impact from agricultural activities on groundwater bodies exists, but currently lacking groundwater monitoring data, a methodology was developed that combines the use of gross nitrogen balance values with the results of a specific vulnerability assessment index. A farm management efficiency parameter is added, to identify the factors that contribute to nitrogen use efficiency and to assess the near-future scenarios. This methodology allows the identification of significant pressures that may be responsible for a groundwater body failing good status where there is no representative monitoring network.
authors.affiliation: Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon, Portugal. mpaulamendes@ist.utl.pt
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Mendes
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ribeiro
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nascimento
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Condesso de Melo
authors.forename: T Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Stigter
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Buxo
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture; D005308:Fertilizers / Q000032:analysis*; D060587:Groundwater; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000737:chemistry*; D011174:Portugal; D045483:Rivers; D014872:Water Movements; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005308:Fertilizers; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D009584:Nitrogen