An Exploration of Nutrient Management Case Studies to Assess the Impacts of BMPs

Eutrophication of natural water bodies leads to various ecological consequences as well as negative aesthetic, recreational, and public health impacts. Historically, mitigating excessive nutrient loading has been achieved by implementing best management practices (BMPs). However, it can be exceedingly difficult to link watershed and source water control actions to specific water quality and ecosystem outcomes. There are many case studies on BMPs employed in impaired watersheds that led to improved conditions. By compiling information from these case studies about specific watersheds, available pre- and post-implementation monitoring data, and amount and source of funding, these case studies can be beneficial for quantitatively measuring BMP outcomes. Therefore, we are working to create an interactive database of nutrient management case studies with information on BMPs and receiving water responses to explore commonalities associated with successful management efforts. To achieve this, case studies to be incorporated were identified by the type of nutrient impairment, availability of monitoring data, how success was defined, and whether that success was achieved. Case studies were then mined for information relevant to BMPs and nutrient reductions through automated scripts, APIs, and manual collation from various disparate data sources. In this presentation, we will show how this freely available database will assist in conducting analyses to identify critical environmental characteristics of a system and management actions that are correlated with successful outcomes in terms of water quality and ecological endpoints. Additionally, this tool aims to identify key gaps in implementation, monitoring, and performance quantification to help guide future management efforts.