Innovative multifaceted approaches for tracing the sources and fate of nutrients and contaminants in watersheds

含氮（N）和含磷（P）化合物有可能引起影响饮用水质量的主要水质退化，并可能导致大陆水体的富营养化。农业肥料、城市径流和废水排放以及工业点源中的氮和磷导致向地表水和地下水体释放的营养物增加。追踪流域中氮和磷化合物的来源、迁移和归宿仍然是一个重大挑战。这项为期5年的研究计划的目标是开发一种创新的示踪剂方法，将新型同位素指纹识别工具与更成熟的化学和同位素方法，水年龄测定方法以及领先的微生物和宏基因组技术相结合。基于一个彻底的库存的同位素指纹的P和N源相关的调查流域，在这项研究计划中使用的科学方法将包括水地球化学和新的和建立的同位素示踪技术相结合，以确定影响地表水和地下水系统的营养负荷的主要来源。此外，我的研究团队将提高我们的能力，以解开影响这些营养物质在所调查的水生系统中的发生和持久性的生物地球化学反应。这将通过进行实验室实验和生物反应器微观世界研究，在人工溪流和实验废水处理厂控制营养追踪，以及在加拿大西部访问地表水和地下水体的流域范围的研究来实现。将使用宏基因组学、RNA和蛋白质测序等前沿技术以及其他微生物学方法来获得补充证据，以确定参与控制所调查的水生系统中营养物命运和污染物持久性的主要过程和关键微生物。此外，水的年龄测定技术将被用来获得有关水的过境时间在调查的水生系统的见解。这些方法的创新组合，预计将产生一个更好的理解的来源和时间表所涉及的营养和污染物的水生系统的负载，并会导致新的见解的主要过程和近似的反应速率，导致地表水和地下水系统中的营养物质和污染物的生物降解。所获得的知识将是必不可少的发展未来的水资源管理战略，以保护或修复水生系统在加拿大和其他地方。

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) containing compounds have the potential to induce major water quality degradations affecting drinking water quality and may cause eutrophication of continental water bodies. N and P in agricultural fertilizers, in urban runoff and wastewater effluents, and from industrial point sources cause increasing nutrient releases into surface water and groundwater bodies. Tracing the sources, the transport and the fate of N and P compounds in watersheds remains a major challenge. The objective of this 5-year research program is to develop an innovative tracer approach that combines novel isotope fingerprinting tools with more established chemical and isotopic approaches, water age-dating methods, and leading-edge microbiological and metagenomic techniques. Based on a thorough inventory of isotopic fingerprints of P and N sources relevant in the investigated watersheds, the scientific approach used in this research program will be comprised of a combination of aqueous geochemistry and novel and established isotopic tracer techniques to determine the predominant sources affecting nutrient loading of surface water and groundwater systems. In addition, my research team will advance our capabilities to unravel the biogeochemical reactions that affect the occurrence and persistence of these nutrients in the investigated aquatic systems. This will be achieved by conducting laboratory experiments and bioreactor microcosm studies, controlled nutrient tracing in artificial streams and an experimental wastewater treatment plant, and watershed-wide studies accessing surface water and groundwater bodies in Western Canada. Leading-edge techniques such as metagenomics, RNA and protein sequencing, as well as other microbiological approaches will be used to obtain complementary evidence for identifying the predominant processes and the key microorganisms involved in controlling the fate of nutrients and the persistence of contaminants in the investigated aquatic systems. Furthermore, water age-dating techniques will be employed to gain insights about water transit times in the investigated aquatic systems. The innovative combination of these approaches is expected to yield a much improved understanding of sources and timelines involved in nutrient and contaminant loading of aquatic systems, and will result in novel insights into the predominant processes and approximate reaction rates leading to biodegradation of nutrients and contaminants in surface water and groundwater systems. The obtained knowledge will be essential for developing future water management strategies for safeguarding or remediating of aquatic systems in Canada and elsewhere.