| Title: | Using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool to estimate dissolved inorganic nitrogen water pollution abatement cost functions in central Portugal |
| Authors: | Roebeling, P.C., J. Rocha, J.P. Nunes, T. Fidelis, H. Aves and S. Fonseca |
| Year: | 2014 |
| Journal: | Journal of Environmental Quality |
| Volume (Issue): | 43(1) |
| Pages: | 168-176 |
| Article ID: | |
| DOI: | 10.2134/jeq2011.0400 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | pollutant only |
| Primary Application Category: | economic and or cost/benefit assessment |
| Secondary Application Category: | pollutant cycling/loss and transport |
| Watershed Description: | 3,685.45 km^2 Vouga River in central Portugal |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | This article is part of a JEQ special SWAT section. |
| Abstract: | Coastal aquatic ecosystems are increasingly affected by diffuse source nutrient
water pollution from agricultural activities in coastal catchments, even though these
ecosystems are important from a social, environmental and economic perspective. To warrant
sustainable economic development of coastal regions we need to balance marginal costs from
coastal catchment water pollution abatement and associated marginal benefits from coastal
resource appreciation. Diffuse-source water pollution abatement costs across agricultural
sectors are, however, not easily determined given the spatial heterogeneity in bio-physical
and agro-ecological conditions as well as the available range of best agricultural practices
(BAPs) for water quality improvement. We demonstrate how the Soil and Water Assessment
Tool (SWAT) can be used to estimate diffuse-source water pollution abatement cost
functions across agricultural land use categories – based on a stepwise adoption of identified
BAPs for water quality improvement and, corresponding, SWAT-based estimates for
agricultural production, agricultural incomes, and water pollution deliveries. Results for the
case of Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN) surface water pollution by the key agricultural
land use categories (‘annual crops’, ‘vineyards’ and ‘mixed annual crops & vineyards’) in the
Vouga catchment (Central Portugal), show that no win-win agricultural practices are
available within the assessed BAPs for DIN water quality improvement. Estimated abatement
costs increase quadratically in the rate of water pollution abatement, with largest abatement
costs for the ‘mixed annual crops & vineyards’ land use category (between 41 900 € tDIN-1
yr-1 and 51 900 € tDIN-1 yr-1), and fairly similar abatement costs across the ‘vineyards’ and
‘annual crops’ land use categories (between 7 300 € tDIN-1 yr-1 and 15 200 € tDIN-1 yr-1). |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | |