Nitrogen Balance in the Lower Fraser River Basin of British Columbia

/ A study was conducted to determine the extent of nitrogenpollution in agricultural lands in the Lower Fraser River basin of BritishColumbia, Canada. The specific objectives were to determine the distributionof leachable nitrogenand estimate the nitrogen concentration in groundwaterrecharges. Nitrogen and water mass balances were conducted on the entirebasin and on each of the four districts comprising it over the period1971-1991 in intervals of five years. The results indicated that the averagenitrogen concentration in the groundwater recharge for the entire basin rosefrom nondetectable in 1971 to 6 mg/liter in 1991. Estimates for theindividual districts ranged from 4 to 14 mg/liter in Central Fraser and fromnondetectable to 7 mg/liter in Fraser-Cheam and 3 mg/liter in both GreaterVancouver and Dewdney-Alouette. So far, excessive levels of nitrogen areconfined to Central Fraser. Although they have remained within the acceptablerange, nitrogen concentrations in the other three districts have definitelyincreased over the 20-year study period. Sensitivity analyses indicated thatanimal manure and fertilizer had the largest contribution in groundwaterrecharge. Decreasing the rate of manure application to agricultural lands issuggested as the most practical way of reducing nitrogen pollution in CentralFraser.KEY WORDS: Nitrogen balance; Water balance; Sensitivity analysis