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Source apportionment of annual nutrient and sediment loads to rivers in England and Wales, from the SEPARATE framework

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Estimates of discharged loads of nitrogen, phosphorous and fine-grained sediments to rivers in England and Wales from multiple sector sources, reported at Water Framework Directive catchment scale, from the SEctor Pollutant AppoRtionment for the AquaTic Environment (SEPARATE) modelling framework [1].

The SEPARATE framework integrates information on pollutant emissions from multiple sources to provide apportionment and summarises these estimates on the basis of the WFD cycle 2 waterbodies for England and Wales.

The estimated loads are expressed as tonnes per year. Sources are both diffuse and point sources. Diffuse sources include agriculture, urban, river channel banks, atmospheric deposition; point sources include sewage treatment works, septic tanks, combined sewer overflows, storm tanks. The pollutant loads and percentages are given as cumulative values with the values from the upstream catchment. Phosphorous is reported both as dissolved phosphorous and total phosphorous.

[1] Zhang, Y.; Collins, A.L.; Murdoch, N.; Lee, D.; Naden, P.S. (2014) Cross sector contributions to river pollution in England and Wales: Updating waterbody scale information to support policy delivery for the Water Framework Directive. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, pp 16-32. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2014.04.010
Publication date: 2016-06-01

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid

Provenance & quality

This dataset is from the SEPARATE framework, which is based upon data from the period spanning from 2010 to 2012. Main input datasets include: 2010 June Agricultural Survey, 2010 British Survey of Fertiliser Practice (BSFP), elevation data, soil classification, meteorological data, river flow data, and river network outline. Further information given in [1].

Although the pollutant emissions are summarised by WFD cycle 2 catchment, the results for individual waterbodies with areas <25 km2 should be treated with caution. This amounts to approximately 43% of the waterbodies across England and Wales and primarily reflects issues associated with the accuracy of statistical or regionally averaged data used to drive the emission layers including those for the agricultural sector.

[1] Zhang, Y.; Collins, A.L.; Murdoch, N.; Lee, D.; Naden, P.S. (2014) Cross sector contributions to river pollution in England and Wales: Updating waterbody scale information to support policy delivery for the Water Framework Directive. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, pp 16-32. doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2014.04.010

Supplemental information

Zhang, Y.; Collins, A.L.; Murdoch, N.; Lee, D.; Naden, P.S. (2014) Cross sector contributions to river pollution in England and Wales: Updating waterbody scale information to support policy delivery for the Water Framework Directive. Environmental Science & Policy, 42, pp 16-32.

Correspondence/contact details

Dave Skirvin
ADAS
 dave.skirvin@adas.co.uk
Professor Adie Collins
Rothamsted Research
 adrian.collins@rothamsted.ac.uk

Other contacts

Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Originator
Professor Adie Collins
Rothamsted Research
 adrian.collins@rothamsted.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
environment
INSPIRE theme
Environmental Monitoring Facilities
Keywords
Catchment , Geospatial / Map , Modelling , National , Nitrogen , Phosphorus , Pollution , River Flow and Networks , Sediment , Tabular , Water Quality
Last updated
08 February 2024 17:37