Variation in riverine phosphorus between 1994 and 2003 as affected by land-use and loading reductions in six medium-sized to large German rivers

Land use and in-stream transformation exert great influence on concentrations and loads of phosphorus (P) in rivers. We aimed to display differences in the courses of total P (TP) and soluble reactive P (SRP) concentrations and loads in six medium-sized to large rivers in the central region of Germany, and to identify the reasons for different long-term trends. Therefore, we applied multivariate statistics to 10-year-time series (1994–2003) of TP, SRP, discharge (Q), water temperature (T), pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), total organic carbon (TOC), dissolved oxygen (DO), total iron (Fe), and total manganese (Mn). Statistical results were related to land use in the catchments of the rivers. TP concentrations ranged between 0.02 and 0.78 mg l−1, and SRP concentrations ranged between 0.01 and 0.44 mg l−1. Q correlated negatively with TP and SRP concentrations over the entire year. Furthermore, Fe correlated significantly and positively to TP and SRP and therefore, ferric hydroxides likely were the major P sorption sites. DOC showed significant positive correlation to SRP particularly in spring, indicating manure exposure in early spring as a major source of both, DOC and SRP. Significant negative correlations between DO and SRP in summer hint at internal P loading in rivers or in flushed lakes. Different forms of land use were the reasons of enhanced or retarded recovering from previous increases in P concentrations. High portions of arable land within some of the catchments impeded the process of decreases since 1996 because of remaining high-diffuse emissions from fertilized soils. Agricultural practices, exposing fertilizer to soils within the river catchments and high Q in early spring caused high TP and SRP loads to downstream systems, and evoked risks for downstream river reaches.