Modeling the risk of nitrate leaching and nitrate runoff loss from intensive farmland in the Baiyangdian Basin of the North China Plain

The water movement and soil nitrogen cycle of the Baiyangdian Basin were simulated, and the risk of nitrate leaching and nitrate runoff loss from intensive farmland was assessed by using the distributed hydrological soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) in this study. The model assessment showed that SWAT was able to simulate water and nitrate movement in the region with satisfactory results. The modeling analysis indicated that fertilizer application was the overriding source of soil nitrogen and might result in a large amount of nitrate accumulation in soils; this nitrate might be lost by leaching or runoff driven by water movement. In 2009, nitrate nitrogen leaching represented 19.5 % of the total amount of nitrogen fertilizer application, while nitrate nitrogen runoff represented 1.7 % only. Thus, it showed that the nitrate leaching was the main approach of soil nitrogen movement in farmland because of strong percolation. It also showed a significant variation of nitrate leaching from different soil depths, with the largest amount leached from surface soil layers and the smallest amount leached from lower soil layers. Therefore, it could be further revealed that the nitrate concentration was very low at soil layers lower than the root zone of crops (1.2 m). Validated by groundwater observations, groundwater pollution by nitrate derived from fertilizers was not serious because of the deep groundwater level in the study plain. However, the risk of groundwater pollution would increase significantly if precipitation increased.