Editorial: trends in diffuse pollution (DIPCON 2003) Michael Bruen* and Ray Earle** *Centre for Water Resources Research, Civil Engineering Department, University College, Dublin, Ireland. (E-mail: michael.bruen@ucd.ie) **Eastern River Basin District Project, Dublin City Council, Ireland. (E-mail: ray.earle@dublincity.ie) Abstract This introduction gives a brief summary of the 7th International IWA Conference on Diffuse Pollution. The scope of the Conference topics is addressed and the main trends identified during its course are described. Keywords Diffuse Pollution; IWA Conference; trends DIPCON 2003 The 7th International IWA Conference on Diffuse Pollution (DIPCON 2003) was held at University College Dublin, in Ireland, from 16th to 22nd August 2003. It was attended by in excess of 300 delegates from 40 different countries. 190 papers and 35 posters were accepted for presentation and inclusion in the Conference Proceedings. The presentations were organised in 13 main themes, which are listed in Table 1. The Estuarine and Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) joined with DIPCON and special sessions were organised for them. Participants in a large transboundary project, 5P-MANTRA-East (Lake Peipsi), also arranged a meeting at the Conference commencing on 16th and presented some of their results. The REGFLUD Project was also significantly represented at the conference. Specialised workshops and field visits were organised as part of the Conference. From the papers and posters presented at the Conference, 46 are included in this special issue of Water Science and Technology. These were chosen to represent the range of topics, quality of papers and geographical spread of contributions at the Conference. There were many more good papers in the Conference Proceedings than could be pub- lished in this special issue. In the selection process, papers which described completed work were preferred to papers which described work in progress and papers with novel elements and/or in-depth analyses were especially appreciated. Scientific trends Some of the main scientific trends emerging from the Conference were as follow here. Modelling 1. The place of modelling in diffuse pollution studies has strengthened. At the Confer- ence, many different models were described, using different types of data and for different purposes. For instance, Shiratani et al. (2005) describe adding macropore drainage and more to Sugawara’s Tank Model. Ba ¨rlund et al. describe an economic analysis with the DREMFIA model. Nasr et al. (2005) add a phosphorus modeling post-processor to the SHETRAN model. Kim et al. (2005) describe a dynamic model of first flush wash-off of pollutants from roads. Vassiljev et al. (2005) describe a stat- istical model used for nutrient source apportionment in a very large catchment and Dunn et al. (2005) describe a GIS-based nitrogen risk assessment model for Scotland. Water Science & Technology Vol 51 No 3-4 pp ix–xi Q IWA Publishing 2005 ix Downloaded from http://iwaponline.com/wst/article-pdf/51/3-4/ix/435112/ix.pdf by guest on 25 March 2021