Nutrient export and remediation at Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky: Steps toward improving local and regional water quality
Presenter Hometown
Lawrenceburg
Major
Geology
Department
Geosciences
Degree
Undergraduate
Mentor
Walter S. Borowski
Mentor Department
Geosciences
Recommended Citation
Penn, Ryan; Borowski, Walter S.; and Malzone, Jonathan M., "Nutrient export and remediation at Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky: Steps toward improving local and regional water quality" (2019). University Presentation Showcase Event. 46.
https://encompass.eku.edu/swps/2019/undergraduate/46
Abstract
Excess nutrient levels continue to be one of the leading causes of water degradation in the United States today. Nutrients are often sourced from agricultural practices in the form of non-point-source contamination as dissolved and solid forms of nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to eutrophication. Limiting entry of nutrients into waterways can improve water quality.
EKU’s Meadowbrook Farm, located within the Muddy Creek watershed (Madison County, Kentucky) is a typical farm raising crops and stock. A small watershed (~0.46 km2, 113 ac) draining the Farm contains cropland, pasture, and a portion of a dairy complex and is thus representative of Farm activities as a whole. We have constructed an instrumented weir on the intermittent stream of this small catchment that allows us to measure discharge and estimate nutrient export.
We sampled water during low flow conditions and during ten rain events during the field seasons of 2016, 2017, and 2018, measuring nutrient concentrations of dissolved ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), and total phosphorus, (SP). These data, used in concert with flow measurements, enable us to calculate nutrient export for monitored rain events.
We found that the largest storm event exported 4.1 kg of P-PO4, 11.3 kg of SP, 3.3 kg of N-NH4, and 1.7 kg of N-NO3 [5.0 kg N]. There seems to be a rough, linear relationship between total storm water volume and P-PO4, SP, and N-NO3 export. Using quantitative relationships between storm flow volume and nutrient export, we can estimate total nutrient export for the entire year.
Presentation format
Poster
Nutrient export and remediation at Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky: Steps toward improving local and regional water quality
Excess nutrient levels continue to be one of the leading causes of water degradation in the United States today. Nutrients are often sourced from agricultural practices in the form of non-point-source contamination as dissolved and solid forms of nitrogen and phosphorus, leading to eutrophication. Limiting entry of nutrients into waterways can improve water quality.
EKU’s Meadowbrook Farm, located within the Muddy Creek watershed (Madison County, Kentucky) is a typical farm raising crops and stock. A small watershed (~0.46 km2, 113 ac) draining the Farm contains cropland, pasture, and a portion of a dairy complex and is thus representative of Farm activities as a whole. We have constructed an instrumented weir on the intermittent stream of this small catchment that allows us to measure discharge and estimate nutrient export.
We sampled water during low flow conditions and during ten rain events during the field seasons of 2016, 2017, and 2018, measuring nutrient concentrations of dissolved ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3), phosphate (PO4), and total phosphorus, (SP). These data, used in concert with flow measurements, enable us to calculate nutrient export for monitored rain events.
We found that the largest storm event exported 4.1 kg of P-PO4, 11.3 kg of SP, 3.3 kg of N-NH4, and 1.7 kg of N-NO3 [5.0 kg N]. There seems to be a rough, linear relationship between total storm water volume and P-PO4, SP, and N-NO3 export. Using quantitative relationships between storm flow volume and nutrient export, we can estimate total nutrient export for the entire year.
