Digital tool for estimating the negative impact of agricultural production on water bodies

The article presents a flowchart of an algorithm and a database for assessing the nutrient load on water bodies generated by agricultural production. It also gives a calculation example of the nutrient input into the water bodies from farming in the Leningrad Region in 2018.

Introduction. Most pollutants from non-point sources get into surface waters from of agricultural activities. These pollutants can be chemical plant protection agents, animal and poultry manure, and manurebearing wastewater from agricultural enterprises. So, reducing the diffuse pollution with nutrient inputs is a priority and important task for improving the quality of ground and surface waters.

Object. The study considered the calculation methods for assessing the nutrients loss into water bodies from farming operations.

Materials and methods. The applied research methods were those of subject area study, decomposition, diffuse load assessment, spatial analysis in the environment of geographic information systems (GIS). The effect of agricultural production on water bodies was assessed according to the methodology developed in IEEP – branch of FSAC VIM.

Results and conclusions. To assess the pollution of water bodies by agricultural lands, and livestock and poultry complexes, the study designed a corresponding algorithm. It had several blocks: initial data, pollution source analysis, estimation of point and non-point pollution, and the estimation results and recommendations on the nutrient load reduction. The other study output was the structure of the database for obtaining and accumulating information on the activities of an agricultural enterprise, agricultural land available, the amount of biogens entering water bodies from agricultural production, etc. The database was designed for research application. For example, the calculations using the database showed that in 2018 the nutrient input into the water bodies of the Leningrad Region amounted to 3909.2 t/year for nitrogen and 250.96 t/year for phosphorus. The study results were recognized with the Certificate of Database Registration 2022622557 dated 19.10.2022 “Indicators for assessing impacts on water bodies” and the Certificate of Computer Program Registration 2022684376 dated 13.12.2022 “Program for assessing diffuse load on water bodies from agricultural production”.

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