Diffuse nitrate (NO3) contamination from intense agriculture adversely impacts freshwater ecosystems, and can also result in nitrate concentrations exceeding limits set in drinking water regulation, when receiving surface waters are used for drinking water production. Implementation of near-natural mitigation zones such as reactive swales or wetlands have been proven to be promising measures to reduce nitrate loads in agricultural drainage waters. However, the behavior of these systems at low temperatures and its dependence on systemdesign has not beenwell known until now. In this study, the behavior of a full-scale (length: 45 m) reactive swale treating drainage water from an agricultural watershed in Brittany (France), with high nitrate concentrations in the receiving river, was monitored for one season (6 months). As flow in this full-size field system is usually restricted to winter and spring months (December–May), it usually operates at lowwater temperatures of 5–10 WC. Tracer tests revealed shorter than designed retention times due to high inflows and preferential flow in the swale. Results show a correlation between residence time and nitrate reduction with low removal (<10%) for short residence times (<0.1 day), increasing to >25% at residence times >10 h (0.4 day). Performance was compared to results of two technical-scale reactive swales (length: 8 m) operated for 1.5 yearswith two different residence times (0.4 and 2.5 days), situated at a test site of the German Federal Environmental Agency in Berlin (Germany). Similar nitrate reduction was observed for comparable temperature and residence time, showing that up-scaling is a suitable approach to transferring knowledge gathered from technical-scale experiments to field conditions. For the design of new mitigation systems, one recommendation is to investigate carefully the expected inflow volumes in advance to ensure a sufficient residence time for effective nitrate reduction at low temperatures.

Diffuse nitrate (NO3) contamination from intense agriculture adversely impacts freshwater ecosystems, and can also result in nitrate concentrations exceeding limits set in drinking water regulation, when receiving surface waters are used for drinking water production. Implementation of near-natural mitigation zones such as reactive swales or wetlands have been proven to be promising measures to reduce nitrate loads in agricultural drainage waters. However, the behavior of these systems at low temperatures and its dependence on system design is not well known until now. In this study, the behavior of a full scale (length: 45 m) reactive swale treating drainage water of an agricultural watershed in Brittany (France) with high nitrate concentrations in the receiving river, was monitored for one season (6 months). As flow in this field scale system is usually restricted to winter and spring months (December – May), it usually operates at low water temperatures of 5°C - 10°C. Tracer tests revealed shorter than designed retention times due to high inflows and preferential flow in the swale. Results show a correlation between residence time and nitrate reduction with low removal (<10%) at short residence times (<0.1 d), increasing to >25% at residence times >10h (0.4 d). Performance was compared to results of two technical scale reactive swales (length: 8 m) operated for 1.5 years at two different residence times (0.4 and 2.5 days), situated at a test site of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) in Berlin (Germany). Similar nitrate reduction was observed for comparable temperature and residence time, showing that up-scaling is a suitable approach to transfer knowledge gathered from technical scale experiments to field conditions. For the design of new mitigation systems, one recommendation is to investigate carefully expected inflow volumes in advance to ensure a sufficient residence time for effective nitrate reduction at low temperatures.

In agricultural watersheds affected by diffuse pollution, limitation of fertilizer and pesticide application may not be sufficient to achieve good river water quality. After waterworks had to be closed in Brittany due to elevated nitrate concentrations in the river Ic (> 50 mg-NO3 L-1), the project Aquisafe has been initiated. The objective of Aquisafe is to reduce pollutant loads (nitrate and pesticides) from agricultural fields by implementation of near-natural mitigation zones at diffuse pollution hotspots at the head of watersheds. Simple and small solutions have to be designed in order to more efficiently reduce nitrate and pesticide concentrations in receiving rivers. In addition, a planning tool has to be developed to determine optimal locations to construct these systems. Finally, a tool to assess the effectiveness of these reactive zones on watershed water quality will be implemented. In order to reach the first objective, design features are tested on three scales: 1) laboratory scale, 2) technical scale and 3) field scale. 1) In the laboratory, column experiments were conducted with different organic substrates at short hydraulic residence times (HRT). The efficiency for parallel reduction of nitrate and two common herbicides in Europe, Bentazon and Isoproturon, was explored (Krause Camilo, 2012). 2) In technical scale, two parallel swales were filled with the most suitable material determined in (1) for a one year test. The influence of HRT and temperature was investigated. For nitrate, high reduction could be achieved at short HRT; results for herbicides still have to be confirmed. 3) One infiltration ditch and two simple wetlands were constructed in Brittany (France), taking into account experiences from other scales. These systems are now monitored to investigate the effects of upscaling. Site locations were chosen based on a validated and repeatable GIS-based overlay method that prioritises zones of potential contribution to nitrate pollution (Orlikowski et al, 2011). Additionally, a new wetland module is being developed for the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). It allows to predict impacts of wetland constructions on nitrate concentrations in receiving rivers; the module is now implemented but still has to be calibrated with in situ monitoring results. The presentation will focus on results of the up-scaling approach, and will show how the tools of Aquisafe can be used for supporting the development of strategies at catchment scale.

The AQUISAFE research project aims at mitigation of diffuse pollution from agricultural sources to protect surface water resources. The project has several objectives including optimizing system-analytical tools for the planning and implementation of mitigation zones, demonstrating the effectiveness of mitigation zones in international case studies in the US Midwest and Brittany, France and developing recommendations for the implementation of near-natural mitigation zones, which are efficient in attenuating nutrients and selected pesticides. A series of different types of mitigation systems, including constructed wetlands and reactive trenches are being constructed in 2010 at identified agricultural sites in France and the USA. A preliminary monitoring of a drainage-fed surface flow wetland showed good nitrate retention when water infiltrated or had significant residence times, but no discernable effect during major storm events. As a result, future designs aim at higher reaction times by adapting size of end-of-drainage solutions to expected flows and by developing new mitigation systems for existing drainage ditches. Moreover, reaction rates are improved by forming favourable conditions for underground passage and by addition of organic carbon sources, such as straw or wood chips. Whereas nutrients are the focus for the field sites in France, both nutrients and atrazine are the focus in the US. Reactive trenches are being tested for pesticide retention at laboratory and technical scale at the experimental field of the German Federal Environment Agency. In the latter experiments, Bentazon and Atrazine are used as test substances, given their relevance for European and US surface waters, respectivelyseveral objectives including optimizing system-analytical tools for the planning and implementation of mitigation zones, demonstrating the effectiveness of mitigation zones in international case studies in the US Midwest and Brittany, France, and developing recommendations for the implementation of near-natural mitigation zones, which are efficient in attenuating nutrients and selected pesticides. A series of different types of mitigation systems, including constructed wetlands and reactive trenches are being constructed in 2010 at identified agricultural sites in France and the USA. A preliminary monitoring of a drainage-fed surface flow wetland showed good nitrate retention when water infiltrated or had significant residence times, but no discernable effect during major storm events. As a result, future designs aim at higher reaction times by adapting size of end-of-drainage solutions to expected flows and by developing new mitigation systems for existing drainage ditches. Moreover, reaction rates are improved by forming favourable conditions for underground passage and by addition of organic carbon sources, such as straw or wood chips. Whereas nutrients are the focus for the field sites in France, both nutrients and atrazine are the focus in the US. Reactive trenches are being tested for pesticide retention at laboratory and technical scale at the experimental field of the German Federal Environment Agency. In the latter experiments, Bentazon and Atrazine are used as test substances, given their relevance for European and US surface waters, respectively.

In summer 2007 & 2008, 100 water samples were collected from 10 freshwater reservoirs with cyanobacteria issues. Phytoplankton was determined according to the Utermohl method [1]. Intra- and extracellular CYN, ATX-a, STX were analyzed by LC-MS-MS or HPLC-PDA at UBA, and in addition, Veolia tested Abraxis ELISA kits for total CYN and total STX on the 2008 water samples (n=45). Cyanobacterial abundance was comparably low in 2007 & 2008 for all reservoirs, probably because of cooler summer months, with less sunlight, more rain and quickly decreasing fall temperatures (except in reservoir 10, which had low incoming nutrient charges). For instance, average chlorophyll content was 12 µg/L in 2007 and 35 µg/L in 2008 in Western France, when 60-80 µg/L concentrations are usually measured. In spite of these environmental conditions, cyanobacteria were detected in 97% of the samples and cyanotoxins in 55%. WHO level 3 for drinking water (>100 000 cell/mL) was reached for 20-25% of the samples. Among the species observed in the water samples, the following potential CYN, ATX-a, STX producers were observed: Cyanotoxin LC-MS-MS and HPLC-PDA results are given on the right. ELISA results for CYN and STX of the 2008 samples only partially agree with the LC-MS-MS data. This might be due to the differences in extraction procedures of the two methods, cross-reactivity issues of the ELISAs for derivatives, in combination with overall very low concentrations of the toxins.