Spatialised European Nutrient Balance

This report describes the estimation of the spatialised nutrient inputs from agriculture and nutrient surplus at the soil surface. Statistical agricultural data from the Farm Structure Survey (FSS) were linked to the spatial information of the CORINE Land Cover 2000 map, producing a European map (EU15) of land use including the crop spatial distribution, consistent with the official crops areas reported by FSS. Nitrogen and phosphorus inputs on soils originating from agriculture were estimated for EU15, and then spatialised based on the land use map, providing European maps of nitrogen and phosphorus mineral fertiliser input, manure application and gross balance at 10 km2 resolution. These maps allow the assessment of nutrient pressures originating from agriculture and constitute a reliable data layer for risk analysis and for process-based models, addressing water and soil qualityJRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Long Term Nutrient Loads Entering European Seas

In 2008, DG ENV invited the JRC to conduct a three year study on the impact of EU environmental legislation on nutrient loads to European Seas. The objective of the study was to perform a long term retrospective analysis (20 years) of land based nutrient loads in European Seas to assess the effectiveness of the EU environmental policies and other management plans adopted by countries with rivers discharging in European Seas, and assess future scenarios linked to alternative management plans different policies to control nutrient loading. The focus is both on the nutrient loading to the sea and the inland response to various policies. The first phase of the study focused on setting up the methodology for year 2000. The work concentrated on data collection and model development. The present report focused on the retrospective analysis including trend analysis (1985-2005). The report describes the change in time of the nutrient loads and their origin, entering European Seas.JRC.DDG.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Scenario analysis of pollutants loads to European regional seas for the year 2020. Part I: Policy options and alternative measures to mitigate land based emission of nutrients

A spatially explicit statistical approach (GREEN model) applied to continental Europe on a sub-catchment basis, is used to link input from anthropogenic activities and nutrient loads into European Seas (namely nitrogen and phosphorous). Effectiveness of environmental legislation is assessed at the horizon 2020, emphasizing the regional differences between European countries as well as the respective contribution of anthropogenic changes and hydrological fluctuation in nutrient exports. The set of scenarios analyzed includes a business as usual situation, a full implementation of on going policy options, a change in European diet based on a strong reduction of meat intake, and optimized management of agricultural practices. All prospective analyses are implemented for EU-27 and are discussed in terms of capacities to mitigate land based emissions of nutrient, and also according to their impacts on the loads of nutrient exported to European coastal areas.JRC.H.1-Water Resource

Water Requirements for Irrigation in the European Union

Agriculture is an essential driving force in the management of water use. Especially in Southern European countries, irrigation is an essential element of agricultural production and agricultural water use has a substantial share in total water use (exceeding 50%). The presented work contributes to the assessment of impacts of irrigated agriculture on water resources at European scale. We developed a modeling approach to estimate irrigation water requirements and regional irrigation water demands in the EU at high spatial resolution. The modeling approach was applied for a first assessment of irrigation water requirements. A prerequisite of the analysis was the compilation of a European Irrigation Map (EIM), providing information on the distribution of irrigated areas in EU25 for modeling studies. The EIM complements the underlying European land use map (Grizzetti et al. 2007), combining FSS statistics on irrigated area and crop area and information from the Global Map of Irrigated Areas (Siebert et al. 2005). The map was used to derive irrigated areas (as total and per crop) for spatial modeling units. To estimate irrigation water requirements we applied the soil water and crop growth model EPIC that was implemented in a European agricultural modeling system EAGLE and calculates water and nutrient flows at a spatial resolution of 10x10 km raster cells. Different irrigation strategies were defined to analyze the effect of application rates and irrigation intervals on water requirement. The final results were given per raster cell and per crop, based on the most efficient irrigation strategy (maintaining optimum yield with lowest irrigation). We show that allowing higher soil water deficit does not automatically lead to non-tolerable reduction of crop yields and soil moisture. Irrigation requirements (irrigation per unit irrigated area) in Europe range up to 2368 mm/yr in average per cell. Water demands (volume for defined spatial units) are calculated subsequently based on the irrigated area within each cell. Resulting water abstractions were calculated using rules-of-thumb values of irrigation efficiency and conveyance efficiency. A comparison with reported national statistics on water abstraction data showed considerable discrepancies for many countries, indicating not only model uncertainties, but also illustrating shortcomings of national statistics. Such a comparison is a useful tool to check the consistency of both, model assumptions and underlying statistical information. The results provide a spatial overview on irrigation water demands in Europe and allow analysis of agricultural pressures on water resources in Europe at a considerable high spatial resolution. Being based on a single methodology applied to official data sources, the estimation supports inter-comparison of national statistics, which are based on different methodological approaches. This pilot assessment was based on irrigation and land use statistics from the years 2000 and 2003. The methodology was designed for application in an operational context, allowing future updates of the assessment corresponding to statistical data. The approach can therefore principally be applied and extended to track ongoing development or run future scenarios of land use and climate. Future improvements will rely on the development of the underlying statistical information and on the incorporation and improvement of crop specific information.JRC.H.5-Rural, water and ecosystem resource

Effect of intranasal NGF administration in injured spinal cord and leptin levels in adult rats

Spinal cord injury alters a number of endogenous biological signals known to be involved in the modulation of neurotrophic and neuroprotective events. Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a neurotrophic factor expressed in neuronal and non-neuronal tissues including spinal cord, and increases after spinal cord injury. Recent findings revealed that leptin, an adipocyte-derived cytokine (adipokine), enhance neuronal survival and exert neuroprotective action, and played an important role in nociceptive behavior induced by nerve injury. Whether NGF affects the expression of leptin in injured spinal cord has not been investigated. The present study was designed to evaluate: (i) whether intranasal NGF administration reached the spinal cord of the rat, (ii) if NGF affects the expression of leptin in the spinal cord and adipose tissue, and (iii) whether intranasal NGF affects the behavioral and spinal cord neuronal deficits induced by spinal cord injury. The result showed that intranasal NGF enhances the expression of (i) NGF and NGF-receptors (TrkA and p75NTR) in injured spinal cord exerting behavioral and neuroprotective action, and (ii) leptin in injured spinal cord and in subcutaneous (white) and interscapular (brown) adipose tissue. Altogether, the present data demonstrate the efficacy of intranasal administration of NGF, and suggest a link between the neurotrophin NGF and the adipokine leptin that may be therapeutically explored in injured spinal cord.Adipobiology 2012; 4: 67-75

The potential of water reuse for agricultural irrigation in the EU: A Hydro-Economic Analysis

Policy context Water reuse has been identified by the European Commission as a relevant solution to be further promoted in the EU to address water scarcity. This opportunity was highlighted again in the context of the EU action plan for a Circular Economy (COM(2015) 614 final). In, particular the Commission committed to table a legislative proposal setting minimum quality requirements for water reuse. This initiative has been included in the Commission Work Programme 2017. In order to support the decisions to be taken on the matter, the costs and benefits of water reuse need to be clearly identified and quantified to the best possible extent. Key conclusions/Main findings In this study we estimate the distribution of costs of reclaiming and transporting treated wastewater for reuse in agricultural irrigation across Europe. We consider treatment costs as well as the costs associated to the water transport infrastructure and to energy for pumping. The study highlights a high variability of costs depending on the relative position of irrigated agricultural land with respect to the wastewater treatment plants. Treatment costs alone may be minor, about 8 €cents/m3, compared to the other costs, with typical total costs exceeding 50 €cents/m3. However, when treatment requirements become more stringent, treatment costs may surge up to about 0.3 €/m3, causing total costs to shift consistently. The energy requirements for pumping of reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants to agricultural land follow a distribution with a median of about 0.5 kWh/m3 and an interquartile range of another 0.5 kWh/m3, which seems slightly higher than reported in representative cases of irrigation with conventional water sources. The total volumes of water that can be in principle reused for irrigation are significant, and may contribute to the reduction of water stress by 10% or more in regions where irrigation is an important component of demand. Water reuse may also contribute, in a less apparent and more uncertain way, to nutrient pollution mitigation. While the treatment and energy costs are mostly compatible with the market value of the crops produced thanks to irrigation, the total costs may exceed the capacity of farmers to pay. This indicates that (1) reuse is most suitable where irrigation infrastructure already exists and the necessary additional investments are minor, and (2) the cost of water reuse should be considered in a broader context. This context should be extended to include, on the one side, the whole value chain supplied by agriculture and, on the other side, the process of river basin management where reuse may represent a measure with important co-benefits. Related and future JRC work This work is part of the broader “Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems Nexus” project of the JRC. Water reuse is regarded as a relevant water resource management option, and this report provides the basis for an assessment of strategic priorities for water reuse in Europe.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Assessment of the effectiveness of reported Water Framework Directive Programmes of Measures - Part II – development of a system of Europe-wide Pressure Indicators

The EC DG JRC is using in-house models and other information to build indicators of pressures on water bodies, in the context of the 2nd river basin management plan (RBMP) implementation assessment (Water Framework Directive (WFD) 60/2000/EC, art. 18) and review of the WFD (art. 19). These indicators are meant to provide a picture of major water pressures at the European scale. The main reason to develop a set of independent pressure indicators is the need to evaluate and monitor the effectiveness of the EU water policies at broad. If the indicators are realistic, the models used for their computation can be used also as tools to simulate scenarios with changing pressures, as a result of policies or other drivers (such as climate changes, implementation of measures or EU sectorial policies). The EC DG ENV is steering the development of an integrated hydro-economic modelling platform in support to the evaluation of policies, with the broadest possible involvement of the EU Member States, and collaborates with DG JRC by leading a large study on the economics of water in Europe also in order to supplement JRC’s biophysical models and indicators with additional economic evidence about the costs and benefits of reducing pressures and improving the conditions of freshwater and marine ecosystems. Another question is whether the pressures are evaluated consistently throughout the European Union. The JRC indicators could be used to benchmark pressure and status reported by the Member States at a different scale. In fact, if JRC indicators are sufficiently reliable, it is expected that overall trends will be consistent with the pressures reported by the Member States. At the same time, JRC indicators do not take into account local conditions in specific water bodies, and should not be compared to reported pressures and status at water body level. The aim of benchmarking is to understand the reasons for assessment discrepancies, primarily for verification purposes. In particular, discrepancies should not be considered per se as evidence of non-compliance in the implementation of the WFD by Member States. particularly, if a given river basin is flagged by Member State reports to suffer from a given pressure, but this is not found in the JRC pressure indicators, the knowledge available at the Commission is likely inadequate for that river basin. The benchmarking process with reported pressures/status in itself could prompt the Commission to seek an explanation for the discrepancies, and eventually to update the indicators, with the overall goal of a coherent and shared vision of pressures at the European and river basin district scales. DG ENV encourages Member States to provide feedback to DG JRC on the indicators and the underpinning models, so that the European scale picture of water pressures they provide can be improved to a sufficient level of realism and representativeness, and can be consequently used as a basis for European water policy evaluation and development. As a first opportunity for this process, the JRC organised a workshop in Ispra on 11-12 May 2016 with the aim to collect feedback from experts on the proposed methodologies and indicators. The JRC pressure indicators are updated over time, as new knowledge is available at the European level. Therefore the benchmarking of local and European assessments is supposed to be a continuous process. The reviews by experts in the Member States should not add to the administrative burden related to the WFD, but should be conducted with the modalities of scientific peer reviews. It will be necessary to pay significant attention to the way the results are communicated, so to clarify the content of the indicators and avert risks of misinterpretation. The review of the indicators will serve also this purpose. This document summarizes the JRC indicators, the state of play with their update and further development, and the outcomes of the workshop held in Ispra on May 11-12, 2016.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Estimation of domestic and industrial waste emissions to European waters in the 2010s

Estimation of domestic and industrial emissions to the European fresh and marine waters is needed for assessing current ecological status of water bodies and providing inputs to conceptual models of pollutant transport and fate. Regulatory efforts of the European Commission, particularly Urban Waste Water Directive (UWWWD) and Water Framework Directive (WFD) prompted investments in waste treatment, and as a result point source emissions to water bodies have declined. In order to account for these improvements, domestic and industrial emission assessments were to be updated for conditions valid in the 2010s. The aim of this study was to assess the quantity and location of domestic and industrial waste emissions of pollutants in European waters for the 2010s. Specifically, the pollutants considered in this study were total Nitrogen (N), total Phosphorous (P), and organic pollution as measured by 5-days Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD). The spatial resolution and extent of the analysis corresponded to the CCM2 River and Catchment Database for Europe. Pollutants were estimated in terms of mean annual average load (t/y) released in the CCM2 catchments. The reference period for the assessment was set to 2014-2015, although in some cases a longer time period was considered. The assessment of pollutant loads to waters from domestic and industrial emissions made full use of available European databases created in response to EU regulations. A method was developed to exploit the European datasets and fill in content gaps through alternative sources of information (REP approach). The European datasets allowed pinpointing waste emissions to a much higher spatial and conceptual resolution than before, although some knowledge gaps remained, affecting especially emissions from domestic waste of isolated dwellings, small agglomerations, and industries. Outside EU28, Switzerland and Norway, domestic and industrial emissions were assessed based on population density and national statistics of shares of population served by sewerage treatment and level of WWTP treatments (POP approach). The comparison between Population Equivalent generated in agglomerations and reported in the UWWTD database with country resident population allowed estimating an equivalence of 1.23 PE per inhabitant, meaning that on average in Europe the contribution of small industries, commercial activities and tourism can be considered about 23% of generated load. This information was used to assess population unreported in the UWWTD database because belonging to small isolated dwellings. Estimates of total emissions due to domestic waste with REP approach with those from POP approach for 30 countries covered by both methods were in good agreement, with Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.95 for Nitrogen, 0.94 for Phosphorous and 0.71 for BOD. Yet, important differences emerged when separating emissions by treatment type or pathway, e.g. looking at disconnected, connected not treated or connected and treated shares of domestic waste. The comparison highlighted inconsistencies between the European database and national statistics and it was noted that for some countries national statistics were scant or inconsistent. Thus, while total emissions are comparable, care should be taken when considering each population share independently. Finally, total pollutant emissions for Europe in 2010s were obtained by merging all available data, using the REP approach and the POP approach estimates to fill in knowledge gaps. In EU28, annual emissions to water from domestic and industrial waste for the 2010s were estimated at 777.6 kt/y of Nitrogen, 126.6 kt/y of Phosphorous and 2,190 kt/y of BOD. The majority of domestic waste is treated in WWTPs, with high adoption rates of tertiary treatment and Phosphorus removal technology, lowering emissions of domestic waste per capita. EU28 IND emissions accounted for 11.3% of N, 6.7% of P and 33.7% of BOD emissions. Emissions from population disconnected to sewerage systems or treated with IAS (for which only primary treatment was assumed) accounted for 11.2% of Nitrogen, 14.6% of Phosphorous and 19.5% BOD emissions to the environment. However only a part of these emissions would eventually reach freshwater systems, as environmental abatement (not considered in this study) would further reduce them. Conversely, connected not treated population contributed 6.2% of Nitrogen, 7.2% of Phosphorous, and 14.4% of BOD directly discharged to freshwater bodies. Tackling these sources of domestic waste and upgrading primary treatment facilities may further reduce pollution loads discharged in freshwater systems and ultimately to the seas.JRC.D.2-Water and Marine Resource

Diabetic ketoacidosis at the onset of disease during a national awareness campaign: a 2-year observational study in children aged 0-18 years

After a previous survey on the incidence of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) at onset of type 1 diabetes in children in 2013-2014 in Italy, we aimed to verify a possible decline in the incidence of DKA at onset during a national prevention campaign

Estimation of Water Fluxes Into the Mediterranean Sea

This study provides an estimate of the water runoff into the Mediterranean Sea and its variation from the ¿80ies to the year 2000. First the variability of climatic and physical factors across the Mediterranean catchment was studied through a Principal Component Analysis. Then a model to estimate the water runoff was developed with the aim to represent this variability, including the various components determining the runoff generation (climatic, physiographic and pedologic), and to overcome the limited data availability for the area. The estimated water fluxes for the 1980-2000 period ranged from 282 to 327 km3/yr. Finally, it was shown through a trend analysis, that the fresh water discharge into the Mediterranean Sea did not exhibit any significant change during the study period in spite of a significant increase in temperature and partial decrease of precipitation. Consequently, awareness should be raised on possible depletion of other water stocks in the Mediterranean river basins, such as mountain glaciers and aquifers.JRC.H.1-Water Resource