Phosphorus (P) release from river sediments has been identified as a contributing factor to waters failing the criteria for 'good ecological status' under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD)
Protecting water resources is of primary importance in a changing world with increased pressures from increased populations, agricultural production and climate change effects to ensure high quality and sustainable freshwater resources into the future.
Eutro-SED addresses the lack of understanding of which P fractions on fluvial and stream bed sediments are more bioavailable and degrade water quality, specifically relating to the effect of organic P and humic-metal P complex pools from fluvial sediments. It aims to identify the contribution of suspended sediment bound and streambed P in geologically contrasting agricultural catchments and to better comprehend the controlling factors for its sequestration, mobilisation and bioavailability under the current pressures.
A predictive understanding of biogeochemical transformations and fluxes of fluvial and streambed sediment bound phosphorus that will be fed into current predictive biogeochemical hydro-sedimentary models for catchment water quality. This lack of data represents a major obstacle to the design and implementation of integrated water resource management of agricultural river catchments.
*At the time of the proposal. Please consider this data as an accurate estimate; it may vary during the project’s lifespan.
Total costs include in kind contribution by grant holders and can therefore be higher than the total requested funding.