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Developing simple indicators to assess the role of soils in determining risks to water quality

This project set out to explore the possibility of producing a set of four risk maps that could be used to determine the risk of diffuse pollution occurring within Scottish agricultural catchments. The key soil-based factors likely to affect water quality were deemed to be:

  • Sediment and pollutants being transported to water bodies by erosion events
  • Compaction, which reduces infiltration and may exacerbate run-off
  • Surface run-off
  • Leaching of potential pollutants

Two test catchments were chosen (the Coyle and the East Pow, both sub-catchments of SEPA’s designated priority catchments) as a related project on soil nutrient management was already using these catchments as trial areas.