Abstract Agriculture, despite numerous efforts, still remains the key pressure on the aquatic environment causing an over excessive enrichment with nitrogen and phosphorus compounds. Therefore, an essential part of contemporary research and management endeavours to identify areas at risk. Presented here is a method of delimitation of such zones susceptible to nutrient pollution from agricultural activities. The starting point for its development, and subsequent construction, was the problem of Nitrate Vulnerable Zones of agricultural origin (NVZ), which still, as of yet, has not been resolved within the European Union. Surface component of NVZ (s-NVZ) areas have served as an example of a method application in a pilot catchment of the Warta River, which is one of the largest river catchments in Poland. The proposed method employs a mathematical algorithm using catchment modeling. The methods rely on a multi-stage delimitation procedure, which allows for precise delineation of only those areas within the catchment, which actually contribute to the analyzed problem (nutrient pollution and eutrophication). The method enables the user to benefit from a very extensive database, which can be modified in almost any way, depending on the current needs and local circumstances. It is also possible to expand this tools possibilities, connecting and coupling the used Macromodel with other modules or models. The proposed method can also be applied by countries that have recognized their whole territory as an NVZ area to designate areas particularly exposed to pollution (i.e. hot-spots). The proposed method applied for the pilot catchment resulted in an indication of 14 s-NVZs, occupying over 6800 km2 in total (13% of the catchment area). The indicated areas have been confirmed to have the largest share of agricultural pollution discharge into surface waters.

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营养脆弱区的划定——一种解决农业持续问题的综合方法

摘要 尽管做出了很多努力，农业仍然是水环境的主要压力，导致氮和磷化合物过度富集。因此，当代研究和管理的一个重要部分是努力识别有风险的领域。这里介绍了一种划定易受农业活动养分污染的区域的方法。其发展和后续建设的起点是农业来源硝酸盐脆弱区 (NVZ) 的问题，迄今为止，该问题仍未在欧盟内部得到解决。NVZ (s-NVZ) 区域的地表成分已作为方法在 Warta 河的试点集水区应用的示例，这是波兰最大的河流集水区之一。所提出的方法采用使用集水建模的数学算法。这些方法依赖于多阶段划界程序，它只允许精确划定流域内的那些区域，这些区域实际上会导致所分析的问题（营养物污染和富营养化）。该方法使用户能够从非常广泛的数据库中受益，该数据库几乎可以根据当前需要和当地情况以任何方式进行修改。还可以扩展此工具的可能性，将使用的宏模型与其他模块或模型连接和耦合。已将其整个领土视为 NVZ 区域的国家也可以应用所提议的方法来指定特别暴露于污染的区域（即热点）。应用于试点集水区的建议方法导致了 14 个 s-NVZ 的指示，总共占据了 6800 多平方公里（集水区面积的 13%）。已确认指定区域的农业污染排放到地表水的比例最大。