Agricultural Pollutant Loads in Scottish River Catchments

Scotland's modelled annual agricultural pollutant loads in rivers, reported at Water Framework Directive catchment scale. The dataset includes predictions for total phosphorous, nitrate, faecal indicator organisms, suspended solids, methane, and nitrous oxide emissions from source areas like arable land and improved grassland. Predictions account for environmental regulations current around 2012.

Use Cases

• Model total phosphorous and nitrate loads from arable land and improved grassland to assess catchment-scale water quality.
• Analyze faecal indicator organism (FIO) losses in colony forming units per year to evaluate microbial pollution risks from agricultural sources.
• Compare methane and nitrous oxide gas emission predictions across different agricultural source areas like rough grazing land for greenhouse gas inventories.
• Assess the impact of General Binding Rules and Nitrate Vulnerable Zone Action Programme implementation on modelled suspended solids losses.

Strengths

• Covers six distinct modelled pollutants including gases and water contaminants.
• Agricultural source areas are specified, including arable land, improved grassland, and rough grazing land.
• Predictions incorporate current (c. 2012) implementation of multiple environmental regulations and programmes.

Limitations

• Modelled predictions are based on conditions around 2012 and may not reflect current agricultural practices or policies.
• Data granularity is at the catchment scale, limiting analysis of sub-catchment or field-level variations.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Modelled predictions of annual pollutant loads from agricultural source areas.

Time Range

c. 2012

Freshness

null

Geography

Scotland, at Water Framework Directive catchment scale.