Ecology Center

Assessment of Efficiency of Riparian Buffer Zones and Buffer Strips

The efficiency of riparian buffer zones and buffer strips in water purification can be described using three characteristics: removal efficiency (%), the retention capacity or mass removal (kg ha 1 yr 1), and the speci fic removal (% m 1).

Removal efficiency E (%) of N and P in riparian com munities and constructed wetlands was estimated as

Qin and Qout are inflow and outflow values (m3 d 1), respectively; Cin and Cout are concentration values (mgl *).

The retention capacity R (kg ha 1 yr 1) was calculated as follows:

XXQipCin — QoutCout) is the annual retention and A is the area of the buffer zone.

The specific removal (% m ) is defined as the removal efficiency per unit width of a buffer zone. This character istic is useful for the planning and establishment of buffer communities.