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

含氮(N)和磷(P)的化合物有可能导致水质严重退化，影响饮用水质量，并可能导致大陆水体富营养化。农业化肥、城市径流和废水以及工业点源中的N和P会导致向地表水和地下水中释放的养分增加。追踪流域中氮磷化合物的来源、迁移和去向仍然是一项重大挑战。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，将新的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尖端微生物学和超基因组学技术相结合。基于对与调查流域相关的磷和氮源的同位素指纹的全面清查，本研究计划中使用的科学方法将结合水中地球化学和新的和已建立的同位素示踪技术，以确定影响地表水和地下水系统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，以揭示影响这些营养物质在所调查的水生系统中的出现和持久性的生物地球化学反应。这将通过开展实验室实验和生物反应器微观世界研究、人工溪流和试验性废水处理厂的受控营养追踪以及进入加拿大西部地表水和地下水水体的流域研究来实现。将使用诸如元基因组学、核糖核酸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，以确定在所调查的水生系统中控制营养物质去向和污染物持久性的主要过程和关键微生物。此外，将使用水年龄测定技术来了解所调查的水系中的水传递时间。这些方法的创新组合预计将大大改善对水生系统营养物质和污染物负荷所涉及的来源和时间表的了解，并将对导致地表水和地下水系统中营养物质和污染物生物降解的主要过程和近似反应速率产生新的见解。所获得的知识将对制定未来的水管理战略以保护或补救加拿大和其他地方的水生系统至关重要。

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.