Application of Hydrological Simulation models to solve pollution impacts in the water management decision-making processes. Measures for the recovery of Mar Menor sea lake and “Campo de Cartagena” aquifer (Spain)

The use of fertilizers and pesticides in agriculture activity is a worldwide extended practice since decades for improving crops performance, which can cause, however, with excessive dosage rates, aquifers" pollution and water quality problems, like the study case hereby presented of Mar Menor sea-lake waterbody and "Campo de Cartagena" aquifer, in the southern coast of Spain.Due the agricultural practices, the Campo de Cartagena aquifer presents in this moment high values of nitrate, around 150 mgNO3 / l, appearing also these high values of nitrogen in soil in this area. This situation produces a great contribution of nitrogen to the Mar Menor lake, by two mainly processes, firstly, continuously through groundwater returns to the waterbody"s surface and secondly, through the precipitation events when a large amount of nitrogen is washed from soil by the rainfall. Finally, the large amount of nitrogen incomes to the Mar Menor sea lake contributes to deteriorate the status of this waterbody and also promotes the eutrophication processes that have been taking place during last years.A large watershed scale nitrates" transport simulation model, Patrical Model (Perez-Martín et al., 2016), is used to estimate the measures to recovery the "Campo de Cartagena" aquifer. The model establishes, mathematically, the relationship between nitrogen application, nitrogen surplus (excess), and nitrate concentration in groundwater and surface waterbodies.Model results show that it is necessary to reduce around 80% of the current nitrogen surplus in the "Campo de Cartagena" aquifer to recovery the good status in the aquifer. This reduction of nitrogen surplus can be obtained by reducing the fertilizers dosage and consequently the nitrates contribution, with a maximum dose of nitrogen applied by farmers of 170 kgN /ha. Applying this measure could reduce significantly the nitrogen retained in soil in 1-2 years, so the nitrogen contribution during rainfall events also could be reduced significantly. Nitrogen levels in groundwater will gradually decrease in the following years, reaching values around 50 mgNO3 / l in 7-9 years after the application of these measures.

Datos y Recursos

Cite como

Gómez Martínez G. Pérez-Martín M.A. y Estrela Segrelles C.E. Application of Hydrological Simulation models to solve pollution impacts in the water management decision-making processes. Measures for the recovery of Mar Menor sea lake and “Campo de Cartagena” aquifer (Spain). Universitat Politècnica de València, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1605

Clipboard Icon
Recuperado: 20 Jan 2025 22:55:48

Metadatos

Información básica
Tipo de recurso Artículo
Fecha de creación 05-11-2024
Fecha de última modificación 20-01-2025
Mostrar histórico de cambios
Identificador de los metadatos 3b091347-0846-58b1-b982-98948fb482a2
Idioma de los metadatos Español
Temáticas (NTI-RISP)
Categoría del conjunto de alto valor (HVD) Observación de la Tierra y medio ambiente
Categoría temática ISO 19115
URI de palabras clave
Información bibliográfica
Nombre del autor Gómez Martínez, G., Pérez-Martín, M.A. y Estrela Segrelles, C.E.
Nombre del editor Universitat Politècnica de València
Identificador alternativo DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-egu21-1605
Identificador del autor
Email del autor
Web del autor
Procedencia
Declaración de linaje
Perfil de Metadatos
Notas sobre la versión
Versión