riparian Buffers have been proven to be very effective in the removal of sediment associated nitrogen from surface runoff and nitrate from subsurface flows. In both surface and subsurface flows, hydrologic characteristics are the key to determining how effective the buffer will be in nitrogen removal. Even though buffers are extremely important to minimise entry of non-point source nitrogen into surface waters and removals of 90% are common, they do not work well in some hydrologic conditions.
