Review of Stormwater Source Controls in Agricultural Catchments

Abstract

Stormwater runoff from both melt and storm rainfall on agricultural lands can result in a variety of impacts: flooding, ecosystem degradation, groundwater contamination, and degradation of surface water quality in a similar manner to urban stormwater as described in a companion paper [1]. The agricultural and urban cases are similar in that both agricultural development and urban development affect the land phase of the hydrologie cycle. Calder [2] lists intensification of agriculture as one of four major land-use changes (the others are afforestation & deforestation, draining of wetlands, and urbanization) in terms of hydrological effects. He notes that “intensification of agriculture involving land drainage, the use of fertilisers and pesticides, and the stall and battery farming of animals and poultry represents another major land use change which may have impacts on soil erosion and water quality and quantity.” In both rural and urban cases, there are impacts at both the lot scale and the watershed scale; however, in the agricultural case, the lot is either the farmstead, a portion of the farm or the entire farm.