THE BIG CREEK RESEARCH & EXTENSION TEAM SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF NUTRIENTS ON THE C&H FARM IN BIG CREEK WATERSHED

Transcription

1 THE BIG CREEK RESEARCH & EXTENSION TEAM SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF NUTRIENTS ON THE C&H FARM IN BIG CREEK WATERSHED

2 Andrew Sharpley Rick Cartwright Kris Brye Mark Cochran Mike Daniels Brian Haggard Phil Hays (USGS) Tim Kresse (USGS) Nathan McKinney Mary Savin Thad Scott Karl VanDevender Adam Willis Jun Zhu Field technicians Soil & water quality, watershed mgt. Assoc. Dir. Extension for Agric. & Natural Resources Soil physics, pedology, sustainability, nutrient leaching Vice President, U of A System Division of Agriculture Extension water quality & nutrient mgt. specialist Ecological engineering, water quality monitoring Karst hydrogeology and groundwater quality Ground and stream water quality Asst. Dir. Agric. Expt. Station Structure & function of microbial communities Water quality, stream ecology and response Extension engineer, manure mgt. & planning County Extension Agent - Agriculture Manure treatment technologies, ag. sustainability Equipment construction, soil & water sampling experts

3 Project objectives Monitor fate & transport of nutrients & bacteria from land-applied swine slurry Assess impact of farm operations on water quality of springs, streams & ground water on & adjacent to the farm Determine sustainability of manure solidliquid separation that may enhance offfarm export of manure & nutrients

4 Andrew Sharpley Rick Cartwright Kris Brye Mark Cochran Mike Daniels Brian Haggard Nathan McKinney Mary Savin Thad Scott Karl VanDenvender Adam Willis Field technicians Soil & water quality, watershed mgt. Assoc. Dir. Extension for Agric. & Natural Resources Soil physics, pedology, sustainability, nutrient leaching Vice President, U of A System Division of Agriculture Extension water quality & nutrient mgt. specialist Ecological engineering, water quality monitoring Asst. Dir. Agric. Expt. Station Structure & function of microbial communities Water quality, stream ecology and response Extension engineer, manure mgt. & planning Cooperating with County Extension Agent - Agriculture Equipment construction, soil & water sampling experts

5 Chert formation Boone formation St. Joe formation Chattanooga formation Sink holes Dissolution channels Springs

6 Surface runoff Water flow pathways & residence times are highly variable Point (rapid) infiltration Diffuse (slow) infiltration Flow conduits

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8 Scale of monitoring Field Farm Watershed Field source management Farm - sustainable operation Watershed impact on water quality

9 Conducted LIDAR topographic survey Grid soil sampling (0.25-acre grid) Ground penetrating radar Installed & monitored Surface runoff flumes Monitoring wells Springs Big Creek above and below the farm

10 Water quality Storm & weekly sampling of base flow in Big Creek & springs samples Nutrients, sediment, bacteria Field runoff & leaching sampling on application fields

11 Field 5a Big Creek Field 1 Ephemeral stream Spring Field 12

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19 mg / L MPN / 100 ml Diss. P Total P Nitrate-N E. Coli Total Colif. Up Down Up Down Up Down Up Down Up Down Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May

20 Spring box captures & directs water to cattle trough

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22 Spring Well Culvert Diss. P Nitrate Coliform Diss. P Nitrate Coliform Diss. P Nitrate Coliform mg/l MPN/100mL mg/l MPN/100mL mg/l MPN/100mL Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar April May

23 Surface runoff monitoring

24 Surface runoff flume

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27 Monitoring wells Station 4 Surface runoff flume Station 5 Station 2 Station 3 Station 1

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31 Monitoring wells Station 1 Station 2 Station 3 Station 4 Surface runoff flume

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34 Tracers of flow pathways Dyes, natural, elec. resistivity Trench & wells near ponds Biological status of Big Creek & other watersheds Monitor Dry Creek Repeat grid-soil sampling Continue monitoring

35 Dry Creek Watershed Big Creek Watershed 4,533 acres 26,541 acres

36 Possible siting of trench Sample collection point

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