Recovery targets and timescales for Lough Neagh and other lakes

Brian Rippey, Yvonne McElarney, James Thompson, Michelle Allen, Mary Gallagher, Richard Douglas

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3 Citations (Scopus)
16 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The framework, model and methods of Nürnberg were applied and evaluated in Lough Neagh and 19 other lakes in order to establish inflow phosphorus concentrations that support target lake values. Supporting concentrations, in the absence of an internal load, were derived and the effect of uncertainty in the model retention coefficient was relatively small, ±11-20 % in Lough Neagh and an average (n = 17) of ±9.7 % in the other lakes. There was further support for the model and methods from an independent estimate of the net internal load in Lough Neagh (13 % difference) and from another model in the other lakes (Supporting concentrations, which should be lower, were by an average of 11 mg P m −3). In the framework, steady state with the phosphorus load is assumed, but, based on a generic lake model, is not likely if the hydraulic residence time>0.5-0.8 yr and should lead to a decrease in phosphorus retention, which was found during three periods in Lough Neagh. Based on a compilation of internal load recovery times from 23 lakes in the literature, it could take between 8 and 20 years for lakes with an internal load to approach their targets.

Original languageEnglish
Article number118858
Pages (from-to)1-13
Number of pages13
JournalWater Research
Volume222
Early online date12 Jul 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 15 Aug 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank the main funders of this work, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland. The assessment of the accuracy of lake phosphorus models in Irish lakes was supported by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland through the DETECT Project (2015-W-LS-9). We are grateful for the support of Wendy McKinley, Brenda Walker, Stephen Prentice, Paul Devine, Brian Ervine, Seamus Connor, Art Niven and Paddy Boylan and for the help of AFBI staff, past and present. We would also like to thank Tom Shatwell for kindly providing the results for Lake Müggelsee and to two anonymous reviewers whose careful reading of the manuscript and comments improved its clarity.

Funding Information:
We would like to thank the main funders of this work, the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs Northern Ireland. The assessment of the accuracy of lake phosphorus models in Irish lakes was supported by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland through the DETECT Project ( 2015-W-LS-9 ).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022

Keywords

  • Internal load
  • Inflow concentration
  • Non-steady state
  • Models
  • Nitrogen
  • Phosphorus

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