Using wetlands for water quality improvement in agricultural watersheds; the importance of a watershed scale approach

Agricultural applications of fertilizers and pesticides have increased dramatically since the middle 1960s, and agrochemical contamination of surface and groundwater has become a serious environmental concern. Since the mid-1980s, a variety of state and federal programs have been used to promote wetland restoration, and these continuing efforts provide a unique opportunity for water quality improvement in agricultural watersheds. However, wetland restorations have been motivated primarily by concern over waterfowl habitat loss, and model simulations suggest that commonly used site selection criteria for wetland restorations may be inadequate for water quality purposes. This does not lessen the promise of wetlands for water quality improvement in agricultural watersheds, but rather emphasizes the need for watershed scale approaches to wetland siting and design. Water quality is best viewed from a watershed perspective, and watershed scale endpoints should be explicitly considered in site selection for wetland restoration.