Assessing the effectiveness of land and water management practices on nonpoint source nitrate levels in an alluvial stream-aquifer system.

The search for ways to allay subsurface nitrate pollution and loading to streams over broad regional landscapes is taken up using a calibrated groundwater model supported by extensive field data. Major processes of transport and chemical reaction are considered in the irrigated vadose zone and the underlying alluvial aquifer in interaction with Colorado's Lower Arkansas River and its tributaries. Simulation of a variety of best management practices reveals that there is potential to lower regional nitrate concentrations in groundwater by up to about 40% and mass loading to the river network by up to 70% over a four-decade span.