Managing ground-water contamination from agricultural nitrates
Ground-water contamination from agricultural nitrates poses potential adverse health effects to a large segment of the rural population of the United States. Contamination is especially prevalent in livestock intensive areas, which produce large quantities of animal waste with substantial nitrogen content. In this study, potential management strategies for reducing nitrate contamination of ground water from agricultural sources were examined using an economic-physical model of representative dairy farm in Rockingham County, Virginia. A mixed-integer programming model with stochastic constraints on nitrate loading to ground water and silage production was used. Results of the model indicate that substantial reductions in current nitrate loadings are possible with relatively minor impacts on farmers' net returns through the use of currently practiced approaches of cost sharing for manure storage facility construction and nutrient management planning. Study results indicate that a wide range of policy options exist for reducing nitrate loading to ground water; these reductions, while varying in cost, do no appear to come at the expense of eliminating the economic viability of the county dairy sector.
- Research Organization:
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6946147
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES
AGRICULTURAL WASTES
NITRATES
DAIRY INDUSTRY
WATER POLLUTION ABATEMENT
ECONOMIC IMPACT
GROUND WATER
MANAGEMENT
AGRICULTURE
FOOD INDUSTRY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC WASTES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION ABATEMENT
WASTES
WATER
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
290300 - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
553000 - Agriculture & Food Technology