Impact of Landscape Feature and Feature Placement on Agricultural Non-Point-Source-Pollution Control

Abstract
Management of agricultural non-point-source pollution in watersheds requires an integrated approach involving implementation of on-field and off-field management practices. An off-field management practice that is widely used to control sediment and water-borne pollutants from entering surface waters is vegetated buffer (or filter) strips. When situated between a potential pollutant source and a surface water body that receives runoff, vegetated buffer strips have been shown to be very effective in removing substantial amounts of sediment and nutrients (primarily nitrogen and phosphorus) from the runoff. However, the effectiveness of vegetated buffer strips depends not only on their hydrologic and hydraulic characteristics but also on their physical characteristics (e.g., width and placement within the agricultural landscape). This paper examines the influence of width and placement of vegetated buffer strips on sediment yield in an agricultural watershed. The AGNPS hydrologic/water-quality model was link...