Urban Nutrient Emissions in Denmark in the Year 1900

Pre-industrial emission levels can serve as a basis to set emission requirements in current conditions to approximate natural circulation of resources and protect the environment. In Denmark, the year 1900 has been set as a reference for water regulation purposes. Reliable measurements from this tim...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2020-03, Vol.12 (3), p.789
Main Authors: Brudler, Sarah, Arnbjerg-Nielsen, Karsten, Jeppesen, Emma Barnhøj, Bitsch, Camilla, Thelle, Mikkel, Rygaard, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural land
Agriculture
Animals
Breeding of animals
Documentation
Environmental protection
Environmental regulations
Fertilizers
Industrial emissions
Industrial wastes
Industrial wastewater
Landfills
Nitrogen
Nutrients
Population growth
Regulation
Sanitation
Soil fertility
Towns
Waste disposal sites
Wastewater
Water treatment
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Summary:Pre-industrial emission levels can serve as a basis to set emission requirements in current conditions to approximate natural circulation of resources and protect the environment. In Denmark, the year 1900 has been set as a reference for water regulation purposes. Reliable measurements from this time are not available. To define reference conditions, we estimate point source emissions of nutrients from Danish towns in 1900 based on historic documentation and current quantitative data. The flow of nutrients emitted by humans and animals and in industrial wastewater is quantified based on the assessment of typical discharge routes in a set of model towns. We find that point source emissions were significant, with 4261 t nitrogen and 764 t phosphorous emitted from towns in 1900. The main source were human excrements (61%), followed by excrements of animals held in towns (32%) and industry (6%). Further, 59% of nutrients were discharged directly to water, 22% were used as fertilizer on agricultural soil and 19% were emitted to soil via landfills and spills. Current point source emissions of nutrients to water (6600 t N/year and 900 t P/year) are significantly higher, revealing a need for radical reductions if historic emission levels should not be exceeded in the future.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w12030789