Diffuse pollution and nutrient removal

Diffuse pollution is a significant issue, particularly with regard to eutrophication and the imbalance of the nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) biogeochemical cycles. When these nutrients are released in excess into water bodies, they alter aquatic ecosystems, causing algal blooms, hypoxia and biodiversity loss. The surplus of nutrients from agriculture has been recognized as one of the main reasons why many European water bodies fail to achieve good ecological status under the European Water Framework Directive 2000/60/EC.

IRIDRA contributes to reducing diffuse pollution loads and removing nutrients through Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) such as buffer strips, wooded buffer zones, and constructed wetlands. These systems can be a valuable option for intercepting and treating various streams of nutrient pollution from agriculture.

Specifically, IRIDRA collaborated with the Joint Research Centre (JRC) to study Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) for mitigating diffuse pollution. This collaboration led to the most recent scientific review on the topic (Rizzo et al., 2023) and to the development of European-scale favourability maps for NBS (JRC NBS MAPS presentation).