A framework for assessing viability of adoption of conservation practice for reducing nitrate-N

Huang, Yichuan

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/99395 Copy

Description

Title

A framework for assessing viability of adoption of conservation practice for reducing nitrate-N

Author(s)

Huang, Yichuan

Issue Date

2017-12-11

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Kalita, Prasanta

Department of Study

Engineering Administration

Discipline

Agricultural & Biological Engr

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Conservation practices
• Non-point source pollution
• Nitrate-N
• Combination
• Landowners' acceptance

Abstract

In recent years, lots of conservation practices have been developed to solve the ever-increasing problem of non-point source pollution. The impact of some practices on the environment, however, is not fully understood, and non-point source pollution continues to be a substantial source of contamination to our waterbodies. Most of the conservation practices are experimentally proven to be effective for reducing non-point source pollution. The lag in environmental improvement is likely due to a low adoption rate from users of these conservation practices. This study investigated some of the most widely used conservation practices and evaluated the potential for combinations of different conservation practices to improve overall performances and address stakeholder needs. Factors that affect adoption of conservation practices such as cost, time, maintenance, education, social networks, and aesthetics are studied and summarized into a set of criteria to evaluate different combination configurations. This study shows that practices with higher Nitrate-N removal tend to be the less desirable to users. These practices tend to be less desirable due to high construction and maintenance efforts and long learning processes, and hence, less adoption potential, which makes state-of-art engineering practices difficult to advance beyond the experimental phase. A compromise between the performance of non-point source pollution control practices and stakeholder interest must be made for all conservation efforts. Without proper acceptance rates, conservation practices are not given a chance to show their potential in improving environmental impacts. On the other hand, without satisfactory performance, it is unlikely that users will continue applying the practice in the long run. Thus, the best conservation practice is the practice more likely to be accepted by landowners while producing the satisfactory performance.

Graduation Semester

2017-12

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/99395

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2017 Yichuan Huang

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