Nutrients in Watersheds

Nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), silica (Si) and carbon (C) are vital to organisms, and play an essential role in our everyday life. Used in excess, they can also become a nuisance with unwanted effects on the environment. This course focuses on nutrients from a hydrological perspective, using a river basin based viewpoint. The course covers general nutrient cycles, then nutrient budgets in watersheds, and how to model nutrient fluxes in catchments, using different approaches. We will also discuss pollution history, using nutrients and metal pollution in river basins over the last centuries. This will enable students to understand challengers that might arise from a variety of issues, from pollution history to current practices. Individual student projects will be based on either a particular element or a particular model.