Agricultural water pollution: key knowledge gaps and research needs

Abstract

While water pollution is starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture requires greater consideration as current agricultural practices have an unprecedented impact on water quality. This paper reviews knowledge in selected areas of agricultural water pollution (AWP) and identifies future research needs. These include source attribution, emerging contaminants, costs and incentives for adoption of pollution reduction measures. Future research priorities include identification and testing of locally appropriate markers; modelling the effects of contaminants on biota and pathways of microbial contaminants; harmonization of data collection and calculation of economic costs of AWP across countries and projects; and how to better share relevant knowledge to incentivize improved agricultural practices.