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ARS Home » Northeast Area » University Park, Pennsylvania » Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #296691
Title: Water quality remediation faces unprecedented challenges from ‘legacy phosphorus’

Author
item JARVIE, HELEN - Centre For Ecology And Hydrology
item SHARPLEY, ANDREW - University Of Arkansas
item SPEARS, BRIAN - Centre For Ecology And Hydrology
item Buda, Anthony
item MAY, LINDA - Centre For Ecology And Hydrology
item Kleinman, Peter

Submitted to: Environmental Science and Technology
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/26/2013
Publication Date: 8/9/2013
Citation: Jarvie, H.P., Sharpley, A.N., Spears, B., Buda, A.R., May, L., Kleinman, P.J. 2013. Water quality remediation faces unprecedented challenges from ‘legacy phosphorus’. Environmental Science and Technology. 47(16):8997-8998.

Interpretive Summary: There is growing recognition that the accumulation of phosphorus in soils, sediments and hydrologic flow pathways can undermine efforts to reduce phosphorus transfers from land to water. Much of this phosphorus derives from historical activities and is not vulnerable to many of the best management practices support modern nutrient management and conservation strategies. New approaches are needed to account for legacy phosphorus and curb phosphorus related water quality impairments.

Technical Abstract: Agricultural best management practices (BMPs) have been very successful at reducing phosphorus (P) losses at the edge-of-field, but there has often been disappointingly little improvement in downstream water quality and ecological services1. New evidence indicates that a major reason is the continued long-term release of P from ‘legacy P’ stores, which have accumulated in watersheds and in water bodies, as a result of past land use and management2,. We, thus, face an unprecedented challenge in water quality management: P legacies from past land management may continue to impair future water quality, over timescales of decades, and perhaps longer. Effective management of phosphorus requires a consideration of legacy sources of P and of practices that affect these sources.