Biosolids and distillery effluent amendments to Irish short rotation coppiced willow plantations: Impacts on overland flow and surface water quality

Organic by-products (OBs), biosolid and distillery effluent, amended to short rotation coppice willow. Impact on quality of surface (overland) flows (OLF) assessed by analysis of nutrients and heavy metals (HMs). Evidence of export of all three major agricultural nutrients and some heavy metals. Concentrations of P and K exceeded DW regulation limits in some instances. However, small volumes and rare occurrence of OLF indicated no risk to nearby surface waters. The practice of OB amendment resulted in little risk to surface waters at these scales. If scaled up to plantation scale, in areas vulnerable to OLF, careful consideration must be made about P-loss (on a catchment scale) before amendments carried out.