Comment on "Using groundwater age and hydrochemistry to understand sources and dynamics of nutrient contamination through the catchment into Lake Rotorua, New Zealand" by Morgenstern et al. (2015)

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Author(s)
Abell, Jonathan M
Hamilton, David P
McBride, Christopher G
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2016
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This comment addresses a key conclusion in the paper entitled "Using groundwater age and hydrochemistry to understand sources and dynamics of nutrient contamination through the catchment into Lake Rotorua, New Zealand" by Morgenstern et al. (2015). The authors analyse hydrochemistry data and conclude that "the only effective way to limit algae blooms and improve lake water quality in such environments is by limiting the nitrate load". We undertook the crucial task of examining this conclusion because it contradicts the current strategy of limiting both phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the lake, supported by a multi-million ...
View more >This comment addresses a key conclusion in the paper entitled "Using groundwater age and hydrochemistry to understand sources and dynamics of nutrient contamination through the catchment into Lake Rotorua, New Zealand" by Morgenstern et al. (2015). The authors analyse hydrochemistry data and conclude that "the only effective way to limit algae blooms and improve lake water quality in such environments is by limiting the nitrate load". We undertook the crucial task of examining this conclusion because it contradicts the current strategy of limiting both phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the lake, supported by a multi-million dollar programme of action. Following careful consideration, we believe that the conclusion is invalid and outline four reasons to support our assessment. Our comments do not relate to the methodology or results that are presented by Morgenstern et al. (2015), and we recognise that their paper makes an otherwise highly valuable contribution to understanding hydro-chemical processes in the catchment.
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View more >This comment addresses a key conclusion in the paper entitled "Using groundwater age and hydrochemistry to understand sources and dynamics of nutrient contamination through the catchment into Lake Rotorua, New Zealand" by Morgenstern et al. (2015). The authors analyse hydrochemistry data and conclude that "the only effective way to limit algae blooms and improve lake water quality in such environments is by limiting the nitrate load". We undertook the crucial task of examining this conclusion because it contradicts the current strategy of limiting both phosphorus and nitrogen loads to the lake, supported by a multi-million dollar programme of action. Following careful consideration, we believe that the conclusion is invalid and outline four reasons to support our assessment. Our comments do not relate to the methodology or results that are presented by Morgenstern et al. (2015), and we recognise that their paper makes an otherwise highly valuable contribution to understanding hydro-chemical processes in the catchment.
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Journal Title
Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Volume
20
Issue
6
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2016. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Subject
Physical geography and environmental geoscience
Physical geography and environmental geoscience not elsewhere classified
Civil engineering
Environmental engineering