Multi-pollutant assessment of river pollution from livestock production worldwide

Yanan Li; Mengru Wang; Xuanjing Chen; Shilei Cui; Nynke Hofstra; Carolien Kroeze; Lin Ma; Wen Xu; Qi Zhang; Fusuo Zhang; Maryna Strokal

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2021.117906

Multi-pollutant assessment of river pollution from livestock production worldwide

Water Res. 2022 Feb 1:209:117906. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117906. Epub 2021 Nov 28.

Authors

Yanan Li¹, Mengru Wang², Xuanjing Chen³, Shilei Cui⁴, Nynke Hofstra², Carolien Kroeze², Lin Ma⁵, Wen Xu⁶, Qi Zhang⁷, Fusuo Zhang⁴, Maryna Strokal²

Affiliations

¹ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China; Water Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands. Electronic address: yanan.li@wur.nl.
² Water Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands.
³ College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Tiansheng Road 02, Chongqing, 400715, PR China.
⁴ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 286 Huaizhong Road, Shijiazhuang, 050021, PR China.
⁶ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China. Electronic address: wenxu@cau.edu.cn.
⁷ College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, Key Laboratory of Plant-Soil Interactions of MOE, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, China; Water Systems and Global Change Group, Wageningen University & Research, Droevendaalsesteeg 4, Wageningen, 6708 PB, Netherlands.

PMID: 34896811
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2021.117906

Abstract

Livestock production is often a source of multiple pollutants in rivers. However, current assessments of water pollution seldomly take a multi-pollutant perspective, while this is essential for improving water quality. This study quantifies inputs of multiple pollutants to rivers from livestock production worldwide, by animal types and spatially explicit. We focus on nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and Cryptosporidium (pathogen). We developed the MARINA-Global-L (Model to Assess River Inputs of pollutaNts to seAs for Livetsock) model for 10,226 sub-basins and eleven livestock species. Global inputs to land from livestock are around 94 Tg N, 19 Tg P, and 2.9 × 10²¹ oocysts from Cryptosporidium in 2010. Over 57% of these amounts are from grazed animals. Asia, South America, and Africa account for over 68% of these amounts on land. The inputs to rivers are around 22 Tg Total Dissolved Nitrogen (TDN), 1.8 Tg Total Dissolved P (TDP), and 1.3 × 10²¹ oocysts in 2010. Cattle, pigs, and chickens are responsible for 74-88% of these pollutants in rivers. One-fourth of the global sub-basins can be considered pollution hotspots and contribute 71-95% to the TDN, TDP, and oocysts in rivers. Our study could contribute to effective manure management for individual livestock species in sub-basins to reduce multiple pollutants in rivers.

Keywords: Cryptosporidium; Livestock production; MARINA-Global-L model; Marina-global-l model; Nutrients; Sub-basin; hotspots.