“Threats of landuse
on groundwater resources”
What is the perspective?
Threats from landuse on groundwater resources?
Or
Threats of landuse because of the groundwater
resources?
WaterCAPTaskforce
Knowledge Center for Agriculture
Denmark, Irene Wiborg & Trine Balskilde Stoltenborg
Farmers are the primary managers
of rural areas
 The countryside extends often right up to the
very start of the city
 Farmers are main actors in the use of water and
their production having an effect on the
groundwater
Farmers play a vital role in the water
management in the countryside but also in the
peri- and urban areas
Farming problems related to groundwater
 Droughts
 Limiting factor for fertilization due to nitrogen
(and phosphorus)

(even that it might come due to flooding of the
sewage system and wastewater ends up in
the groundwater)
 Limiting factor for the use of pesticides ("too bad")
 Restrictions on field boundaries (buffer zones
related to groundwater bodies)
Farmers part of the solution
 Farming with water - the farmer as
water managers
 Less use of water, pesticides,
phosphorus and nitrogen
 Constructions of buffer zones and
water bassins etc.
 Catchment based cooperation
Threats from landuse on groundwater
resources; Nitrate
 Groundwater is vulnerable both to point sources
of pollution and to those which are diffuse;

nitrate pollution, mainly as diffuse pollution
from land use

Point source pollution might come from
intensive livestock husbandry and slurry
stores.
 Good agricultural practice reduce the Nitrate
content in the ground water significantly.
SHOWCASE

How agriculture can have a negative impact on the groundwater and how it can be handled.

In Denmark planning for the protection of the drinking water resources has taken place since the
1980’ties.

This planning has had a significant positive effect on nitrate load in the groundwater (1). A number
of practices in agriculture has been changed in order to reduce the nitrate leaching. We will shortly
present practices which has been changed and also introduce to more targeted regulation

(1) Hansen, B., Thorling, L, Dalgaard T. and Erlandsen, M, Trend Reversal of Nitrate in
Danish Groundwater - a Reflection of Agricultural Practices and Nitrogen Surpluses since
1950, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 228–234,
SHOWCASE 2: LAND USE
makes a difference:
CLOSED LOOP FARMING
potential contributions to groundwater quality
ir Henk Kieft, ETC*
What you see
Ammonium
55 kg
N/year
Methane (CH4)
NO
Footprint
manure:
124 kg
N/year
What you do not see
1 hectare fodder on
the farm
+ 1 hectare
somewhere else
(concentrate)
Key: MORE EFFICIëNT CYCLE of NUTRIENTS
 reduced farm cost + cleaner water
Result: Nitrate emissions reduced
[province of Drenthe, Netherlands]
mg/liter in groundwater
140
NO3 concentration in groundwater
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
conventional
closed-loop
norm
Potential lower emissions
for province Drenthe
• performance top 20% compared to average
• savings upscaled over 66.000 ha in Drenthe
• lower N soil surplus :
•
top 20% at 91 kg/ha performes 64 kg/ha lower than average 155 kg N/ha
• lower ammonia emissions:
•
500 ton N in NH3
5 kg N/10.000 kg milk x 1 billion kg (33 instead of 38 kg N)
• lower P soil surplus:
•
4.224 ton N in NO3
1.056 ton P2O5
top 20% at 5 kg/ha performes 16 kg P2O5/ha lower than average 21 kg P2O5/ha
Upscaling
Performance based Rewarding
1. Collect Farm data  efficiency N+P 2. Improve via workshops,
trips and farmers
studygroups
Personal advice
for training etc.
Arrange
payment in
Euro or farm
development
rights
Certify quality
via formal
trainers and
‘diplome’
Negotiate reward
for performance
4. Negotiate reward for improvement! 3. Transparancy in resultats
• organize delivery to farm
: certificate
• more production space for farm
• premium from waterboard
• farm publicity + “licence to produce”
… searching better soil life
?
SHOWCASE 3:
DANUBE POLLUTION BY AGRICULTURE 1988
Nitrates
51%
Agriculture
DANUBE
Phosphates 57%
TRENDS IN FERTILIZER INPUT,
YIELDS AND POLLUTION
River TISZA graph HUNGARY
Yellow bars (left):
CEREAL YIELD
[million tons/year]
Black bars (middle):
FERTILIZER USE
[in 10 kg N/ha]
Brown bars (right):
NITRATE POLLUTION
[mg NO3/liter river water]
Inputs dropped to 17% (33kgN/ha) in 1993 while yields dropped
to 70% and pollution dropped to 50% (compared to 1988).
BEST AVAILABLE
AGRIC. TECHNIQUES
• ECOLOGICAL
and
• LOW INPUT AGRIC
• INTEGRATED
•
LOCALLY ADAPTED PATTERNS
•
CROP ROTATIONS
•
EROSION CONTROL
•
MIXED FARMS
•
MANURE HANDLING
•
RECYCLING ‘WASTE’
•
GREEN MANURING
•
AGROFORESTRY
•
INTEGR. PEST MANAGEMENT
•
INTEGR. NUTRIENT SYSTEMS
•
EROSION CONTR. + CROP ROT.
PERFORMANCE OF AGRICULTURAL
SYSTEMS
A G R .S Y S T / E C O L
C R IT E R IU M
Y IE LD
++++
LIS A
IN T E G R
++++
+++++
E M P LO Y M E N T
+++++
+++++
++++
E N V IR O N M E N T
++++
+++
++
B IO D IV E R S ITY
+++
++
+
N A TIO N A L
++++
++++
++++
3-Track Agriculture Policy
all challenged to high efficiency
Pioneering EcoAgriculture
‘Forced’ Low
Input Agriculture
Productivist
High Input
Agriculture
EA
10% Ecological
Agriculture
LISA
Low Input
Sustainable
Agriculture
IA
Integrated
Agriculture
THE SECOND CYCLE
• 1st nutrient cycle to be ‘closed’ is on-farm
• 2nd nutrient cycle to be ‘closed’ is regional:
consumer-producer
Recycling Waste =
Urban-Rural Linkage
Create value from Waste
Threats of landuse because of the
groundwater resources (Irene we need
to change this into slides – and put in
the right order)

No food because of no possibilities for irrigation. This ecosystem service
diminish…

Lack of ground water is a threat to agricultural production. We will present
this perspective and in that way discuss the need for finding solutions for
a sustainable water management where there are water present for food
production.

-> -> It takes a holistic view to do sufficient groundwater management.
There is a competing demands of the ecosystem services. It has to be
balanced.

Dividing the farmland into resilient and less resilient areas to human (and
animal) impacts and climate change will retain all the ecosystem services
groundwater provides. Land use has to be matched with the vulnerability
of the soil, geology, water and ecosystem.

Showcase: Denmark NOW – heading for it…
So the farmers both having
farming problems because of
the groundwater challenges
and being the solution to the
problems
You mean the world to us
 Thanks for listening
 ....
 ...
 ..
 .