During the last decades, population growth and the associated intensification of anthropogenic activities (agriculture, industrialization and urbanization) increased nutrient inputs to Pampean lotic waterbodies. However, few studies evaluated the influence of these changes on water quality. The objectives of this study were to determine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fractions, trophic status and nutrient limitation of a typical Pampean stream, and to compare nutrient contents and speciation with different land uses (urban/ industrial versus agricultural). Stream water samples were obtained monthly between 2010 and 2012 from six locations along the Pergamino stream. The stream was highly productive (eutrophic/hypertrophic) and nutrient concentrations were greater than the environmental quality standards from different parts of the world as a result of point and diffuse source inputs in addition to the naturally high baseline nutrient concentrations. In the case of N, organic and particulate fractions predominated in sites surrounded by agriculture, while inorganic forms predominated in sites dominated by urban/industrial effluent discharges. Nutrients spatial variation along the Pergamino stream presented the lowest concentrations in the headwaters, the highest concentrations when crossing the city of Pergamino and intermediate values towards the mouth. In this basin, despite being located in the most important agricultural region of Argentina, urban and industrial point source discharges resulted in greater impairment of water quality than diffuse sources linked to agriculture. Between the city of Pergamino and the stream mouth, total N and P concentrations decreased by 50% as a result of dilution due to increased flow and other natural self-cleansing mechanisms. It is imperative to design a monitoring programme and to adopt management strategies designed to reduce nutrient input to avoid saturating the stream’s capacity to retain and process nutrient inputs.
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