Evaluation of the best management practices in a semi-arid region with high agricultural activity

Date

2017-12

Author

Özcan, Zeynep
Kentel Erdoğan, Elçin
Alp, Emre

Metadata

Show full item record

Item Usage Stats

332
views

0
downloads

The arid and semi-arid regions with water scarcity are vulnerable to several stressors such as urbanization, high water demand created by agricultural and industrial activities, point and non-point pollution sources, and climate change. Hence, proactive policies and sustainable water management strategies that are based on decision support systems are crucial in arid and semi-arid regions. Because of large expenses and implementation difficulties associated with the diffuse pollution abatement plans, many authorities are hesitant to initiate, especially those that may present a financial burden on population. Lake Mogan, a shallow lake, is located in a semi-arid region dominated by dry agricultural activities and has been in eutrophic state for the past 20 years. There has been several management alternatives suggested to improve the water quality in Lake Mogan and one of the alternative is the application of BMPs that include fertilizer management, conservation/no tillage, contouring, and terracing to reduce the amount of diffuse source pollutants. In this study, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model is applied to evaluate the effectiveness of agricultural best management practices (BMPs) in the Lake Mogan watershed located in a semi-arid region. The most effective BMP scenario was found as the one in which three individual BMP scenarios (30% fertilizer reduction, no tillage, and terracing) were combined. With this scenario average annual load reductions of 9.3%, 8.6%, 8.0%, and 11.1% were achieved in sediment, nitrate, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus, respectively. Even with the most effective BMP strategy, high levels of nutrient reduction will not be achieved since non-irrigated agriculture and intermittent low-flow streams accounts majority of the study area. The outcomes suggest integrated solutions should be developed to improve water quality in Lake Mogan. It is aimed that this study will aid decision makers to implement effective best management practices in watersheds showing similar characteristics (i.e. topographical, hydrologic processes, LULC (Land use land cover) characteristics, agricultural activities, meteorological etc.) with the study area.

Subject Keywords

Best management practices, Semi-arid regions, Lake Mogan, SWAT model, Diffuse pollution control, Non-irrigated agriculture

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/28471

Journal

Agricultural Water Management

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2017.09.007

Collections

Department of Environmental Engineering, Article

Suggestions

OpenMETU
Core

Comparison of BEST and LEED green building rating systems through cost based optimization Uğurlu, Bengisu; Aksoy, Ayşegül; Department of Environmental Engineering (2020-1-25) Buildings have significant effects on climate change due to vast resource consumption and pollution generation. Improving the effective use of limited resources and constructing environmentally friendly buildings are important in the realm of mitigations for climate change. Several countries have their green building rating systems tailored towards their regulations, distinctive climatic conditions, unique cultures and traditions, diverse building types and ages, or wide-ranging environmental, economic, and...
Evaluation of Walkability and Pedestrian Level of Service Tüydeş Yaman, Hediye (2017-01-01) Due to decreasing resources, living in urban regions focus on sustainability in many aspects, including transportation. Sustainable transportation encourages non-motorized modes of walking and cycling as well as public transit (which also relies on walking while accessing a station), as well. However, walking as a mode is still a big mystery itself that needs further attention and research effort especially in the evaluation part. So far, the planners have discussed the concepts of walking and walkability, ...
Modeling the effects of climatic and land use changes on phytoplankton and water quality of the largest Turkish freshwater lake: Lake Beysehir Bucak, Tuba; Trolle, Dennis; Tavsanoglu, U. Nihan; Cakiroglu, A. Idil; Ozen, Arda; Jeppesen, Erik; Beklioğlu, Meryem (Elsevier BV, 2018-04-15) Climate change and intense land use practices are the main threats to ecosystem structure and services of Mediterranean lakes. Therefore, it is essential to predict the future changes and develop mitigation measures to combat such pressures. In this study, Lake Beysehir, the largest freshwater lake in the Mediterranean basin, was selected to study the impacts of climate change and various land use scenarios on the ecosystem dynamics of Mediterranean freshwater ecosystems and the services that they provide. ...
EVALUATION OF SUSTAINABILITY IN HOSPITALITY SECTOR IN TURKEY AND COMPARATIVE LIFECYCLE ASSESSMENTS OF ACCOMMODATION OPTIONS Akdemir Yılmaz, Kadriye; Elias Özkan, Soofia Tahira; Department of Building Science in Architecture (2022-5-11) Currently, one of the most important factors influencing the future of the world is tourism, due to its negative effects on the natural environment and consumption of natural resources. The tourism sector, which offers its guests natural and cultural beauties in the region where it is located, will not be able to survive if the potential danger to natural environment and resources is not halted. In other words, sustainable tourism is entirely dependent on the sustainability of the environment and resources....
Estimation of diffuse pollution loads of pesticides in tersakan sub-basin of Yeşilirmak river Ayyıldız, Ceren; Ünlü, Kahraman; Department of Environmental Engineering (2019) Tersakan Creek is one of the highly polluted tributaries of Yeşilırmak River because it receives pollution loads both from discharges of the industrial facilities and run-off water of the agricultural areas in the sub-basin. A monitoring program was implemented to determine the water quality status of the sub-basin in accordance with the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD). The results of the water sample analyses revealed that concentrations of 22 pesticides, out of the detected 57 pesticides, exceeded the ...

Citation Formats

Z. Özcan, E. Kentel Erdoğan, and E. Alp, “Evaluation of the best management practices in a semi-arid region with high agricultural activity,” Agricultural Water Management, pp. 160–171, 2017, Accessed: 00, 2020. [Online]. Available: https://hdl.handle.net/11511/28471.