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Occurrence of Nitrite in the Lough Neagh River System

Agric. and Environ. Science Div., Dep. of Agric. for Northern Ireland, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland;
Biometrics Div., Dep. of Agric. for Northern Ireland, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland;
Applied Plant Science Div., Dep. of Agric. for Northern Ireland, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland;
Dep. of Agric. and Environ. Science, The Queen's Univ. of Belfast, Newforge Lane, Belfast BT9 5PX, Northern Ireland.

^* Corresponding author (gbad6103{at}agv1.qub.ac.uk).

ABSTRACT

The Lough Neagh catchment area covers about one-third of the land area of Northern Ireland. This report documents NO^–₂ concentrations in the major rivers entering Lough Neagh, which are frequently in the range of 100 to 150 µg N L^–1 and exceed the European Community (EC) water quality guide values. The contribution of land drainage to NO^–₂ loads carried by these rivers was estimated to be about 40%. The remaining 60% of NO^–₂ appears to originate from N transformations at the sediment-water interface of the river system. The available evidence suggests that NH⁺₄ originating from agricultural pollution provides the N substrate for nitrification by Nitrosomonas to NO^–₂. What is anomalous is why this NO^–₂ is not further oxidized rapidly to NO^–₃ by Nitrobacter. A possible mechanism is that the Nitrobacter is retarded by the presence of free ammonia concentrations that can be predicted to be present in the range of 65 to 76 µg N L^–1.

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