How agriculture, connectivity and water management can affect water quality of a Mediterranean coastal wetland

The Natural Park of Albufera (Valencia, Spain) is an important Mediterranean coastal wetland that suffers continuous environmental effects from human activities and water uses, mainly related to agriculture and urban/industrial sewage discharges. The aim of this research was to assess the water quality of the different aquatic environments of this wetland, taking into account the connection between them, the agricultural impact and the management of irrigation water. The UE Water Framework Directive was followed in order to evaluate the ecological and trophic status of water systems. Spatial approaches were used to integrate physicochemical data into GIS vector layers to map the more problematic points of pollution. The results showed a globally eutrophic system with poor ecological potential. The wetland is nutrient-overloaded during the entire rice cultivation period. Good-quality water inputs are deficient, since the river network already has high levels of nutrients and pollutants, especially in the northern area, where river water is mixed with inappropriate effluents from wastewater treatment plants. Agriculture and water management affected the area intensively up to the Albufera lake, modulating most of the studied variables. The information gathered here can help to optimize the global study and management of the coastal Mediterranean wetlands, which are highly linked to agriculture.

Data and Resources

Cite as

Vera-Herrera L. Romo S. y Soria J. How agriculture connectivity and water management can affect water quality of a Mediterranean coastal wetland. MDPI, 2022. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy12020486

Clipboard Icon
Retrieved: 07 Nov 2025 08:34:46
RIS BibTeX

Metadata
Download
DCAT-AP/NTI-RISP

Basic information
Resource type Article
Date of creation 2024-11-05
Date of last revision 2024-11-05
Show changelog
Metadata identifier f3dc9c2b-e826-5668-820e-4865a96660aa
Metadata language Spanish
Themes (NTI-RISP)
High-value dataset category Earth observation and environment
ISO 19115 topic category biota
Keyword URIs
Bibliographic information
Name of the dataset creator Vera-Herrera, L., Romo, S. y Soria, J.
Name of the dataset editor MDPI
Other identifier DOI: 10.3390/agronomy12020486
Identifier of the dataset creator
Email of the dataset creator vehelu@uv.es
Website of the dataset creator
Provenance
Lineage statement
Metadata Standard
Version notes
Version