What Goes Up Must Come Down: Integrating Air and Water Quality Monitoring for Nutrients

Helen M. Amos, Chelcy F. Miniat, Jason Lynch, Jana Compton, Pamela H. Templer, Lori A. Sprague, Denice Shaw, Doug Burns, Anne Rea, David Whitall, LaToya Myles, David Gay, Mark Nilles, John Walker, Anita K. Rose, Jerad Bales, Jeffrey Deacon, Richard Pouyat

Excess nitrogen and phosphorus (i.e., nutrients) environmental loadings continue to affect ecosystem function and human health across the U.S. Our ability to connect atmospheric inputs of nutrients to aquatic endpoints remains limited due to uncoupled air and water quality monitoring. Where connections exist, the information provides insights about source apportionment, trends, risk to sensitive ecosystems, and efficacy of pollution reduction efforts. We examine several issues driving the need for better integrated monitoring, including: coastal eutrophication, urban hotspots of deposition, a shift from oxidized to reduced nitrogen deposition, and the disappearance of pristine lakes. Successful coordination requires consistent data reporting; collocating deposition and water quality monitoring; improving phosphorous deposition measurements; and filling coverage gaps in urban corridors, agricultural areas, undeveloped watersheds, and coastal zones.