Tuesday 8th September was the meeting of the Gårdsjön foundation. Because several of the DAEMONS sampling sites are within the Gårdsjön catchment, Filip attended to present an overview of the project and results so far. The preliminary data show distinct patterns between the four land uses (forest, lake, agriculture, mire), and some degree of consistency within each land use grouping. One clear finding is that the small percentage of agricultural land within the entire Anråse catchment appears to be responsible for a large proportion of phosphorus export. Phosphorus concentrations at the outflow of the Anråse catchment then appear to be a mix of the inputs from the three tributary rivers Rördalsån, Lerån, and Porsån. Of course, these early findings may not hold true for the duration of the project as more sampling takes place and more data are generated, but it’s certainly an encouraging start. The Gårdsjön foundation has been organising scientific meetings, so-called Gårdsjökonferens, held periodically in Stenungsund. Our new DAEMONS results inspired the discussion on organising the next (8th) meeting in spring 2022. The conference theme “From source to the sea” has been discussed, which would fit perfectly for presenting the future DAEMONS results at the meeting. Figure showing box plots of total phosphorus concentration for streams in different land uses (agriculture, forest, mire), lakes, and the four rivers.
DAEMONS kicked off in early 2020, with the first field samples collected in the Anråse river catchment in January. Shortly afterwards the COVID-19 pandemic began, putting a temporary stop to sampling. Despite this, the first stakeholder meeting went ahead as planned on the 15th April, albeit in the virtual, rather than physical world. Present for the meeting were a small but diverse range of stakeholders, with representatives from:
Representing the DAEMONS project team were Filip Moldan, Sara Jutterström and Johanna Stadmark (IVL), Martyn Futter (SLU), and Sofia Hjalmarsson and Lars Johansson (DHI). The team gave an overview of the project, including the aims, scientific background and model simulations of the dispersion of solutes from the river mouth into the fjord system, before the preliminary data were presented from the January, February and March sampling campaigns. The monthly sampling sites cover a range of the main land uses (identified as key end members) present in the Anråse river catchment: agricultural streams, forest streams, mire streams, lakes and river outlets. Total phosphorus concentrations in January for the different lake and stream sampling sites. The two sites with the highest concentrations (LE1.5 and LE2) are agricultural streams. The stakeholder group provided feedback on the early results with particular discussion about high phosphorus levels in some streams: is this diffuse emission from agriculture, or coming from point sources such as septic tanks? A question to investigate in future, and one that could perhaps be answered with extra analyses (e.g. E.coli). There were also requests to include specific lakes in the large-scale synoptic sampling campaigns that are planned quarterly, and to ensure oxygen concentrations were measured. Useful local information was also provided about water treatment works, pumping stations and other relevant people to make contact with. All in all, a very productive first meeting.
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