Abstract

Pathogens are an ongoing issue for catchment water management and quantifying their transport, loss and potential impacts at key locations, such as water abstractions for public supply and bathing sites, is an important aspect of catchment and coastal management. The Integrated Catchment Model (INCA) has been adapted to model the sources and sinks of pathogens and to capture the dominant dynamics and processes controlling pathogens in catchments. The model simulates the stores of pathogens in soils, sediments, rivers and groundwaters and can account for diffuse inputs of pathogens from agriculture, urban areas or atmospheric deposition. The model also allows for point source discharges from intensive livestock units or from sewage treatment works or any industrial input to river systems. Model equations are presented and the new pathogens model has been applied to the River Thames in order to assess total coliform (TC) responses under current and projected future land use. A Monte Carlo sensitivity analysis indicates that the input coliform estimates from agricultural sources and decay rates are the crucial parameters controlling pathogen behaviour. Whilst there are a number of uncertainties associated with the model that should be accounted for, INCA-Pathogens potentially provides a useful tool to inform policy decisions and manage pathogen loading in river systems. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Pathogens; Modelling; Water quality; River Thames; E. coli; Land use change

Published in

Science of the Total Environment
2016, Volume: 572, pages: 1601-1610
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Futter, Martyn

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG3 Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
SDG6 Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
SDG11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts


UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.128

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/81305