Controlled versus Conventional Drainage Effects on Water Quality
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 121, Issue 4
Abstract
Fertilized cropland is a potential nonpoint source of nitrogen and phosphorus, which can contribute to the nutrient enrichment of surface water ecosystems. Research has shown that agricultural drainage water may contain fertilizer nutrients and pesticides. Nitrogen and phosphorus are present in drainage outflow primarily because of the addition of fertilizer, which results from the change in land use following drainage improvements instead of from the mere installation of drainage. Yet, public concern for the environment has led to a general criticism of agricultural drainage for degrading water quality. Controlled drainage has been recognized in some states as a best management practice to reduce the transport and delivery of nitrogen and phosphorus to sensitive surface waters. This article summarizes and compares water quality impact associated with conventional and controlled drainage practices. Nitrogen and phosphorus reductions of 30% to 50%, resulting from controlled drainage are reported in several studies. Several researchers believe further reductions are possible by carefully managing fertilization rates and timing to match crop uptake. Further minimization of the off-site impact of agricultural production will require a better understanding of the mechanisms of fate and transport of nutrients and pesticides and their interaction with drainage and other water-management alternatives such as controlled drainage.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
1.
Arjoon, D., Prasher, S. O., and Gallichand, J., (1992). “Water table management and water quality in organic soils.”ASAE Paper No. 92-2079, Am. Soc. of Agric. Engrs., St. Joseph, Mich.
2.
Bastien, C., Madramootoo, C. A., Enright, P., and Caux, P. Y. (1990). “Pesticide movement on agricultural lands in Quebec.”ASAE Paper No. 90-2513, Am. Soc. of Agric. Engrs., St. Joseph Mich.
3.
Bengtson, R. L., Southwick, L. M., Willis, G. H., and Carter, C. E.(1990). “The influence of subsurface drainage practices on herbicide losses.”Trans. ASAE, 33(2), 415–418.
4.
Burkholder, J. M., Mason, K. M., and Glasgow Jr., H. B. (1992). “Water-column nitrate enrichment promotes decline of eelgrass Zostera marina : evidence from seasonal mesocosm experiments.”Marine Ecology Progress Ser., Vol. 81, 163–178.
5.
Deal, C. S. (1984). “The effect of type of improved agricultural drainage upon drainage water quality,” PhD dissertation, Soil Sci. Dept., N.C. State Univ., Raleigh, N.C.
6.
Deal, C. S., Gilliam, J. W., Skaggs, R. W., and Konyha, K. D. (1986). “Prediction of nitrogen and phosphorus losses as related to agricultural drainage system design.”Agri. Ecosystems and Environment, Vol. 18, 37–51.
7.
Dept. of Environment, Health and Natural Resources of North Carolina Div. of Envir. (1992). “Water quality progress in North Carolina, 1990–1991 305 (b). Rep., Raleigh, N.C.
8.
Evans, R. O., and Skaggs, R. W.(1989). “Design guidelines for water table management systems on coastal plain soils.”Appl. Engrg. in Agr., 5(4), 539–548.
9.
Evans, R. O., Gilliam, J. W., and Skaggs, R. W. (1989). “Effects of agricultural water table management on drainage water quality.”Rep. No. 237, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
10.
Evans, R. O., Skaggs, R. W., and Gilliam, J. W. (1990). “Controlled drainage and subirrigation effects on drainage water quality.”Proc., 14th Int. Congr. on Irrig. and Drain., M. Holy, ed., Int. Congr. on Irrig. and Drain., Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1A(Q42), 13–30.
11.
Evans, R. O., Gilliam, J. W., and Skaggs, R. W. (1991). “Controlled drainage management guidelines for improving drainage water quality.”Bull., AG-443, N.C. Cooperative Extension Service, Raleigh, N.C.
12.
Evans, R. O., Parsons, J. E., Stone, K., and Wells, W. B.(1992). “Water table management on a watershed scale.”J. Soil and Water Conservation, 47(1), 58–64.
13.
Gilliam, J. W., Skaggs, R. W., Weed, S. B. (1978). “An evaluation of the potential for using drainage control to reduce nitrate loss from agricultural fields to surface waters.”Rep. No. 128, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
14.
Gilliam, J. W., and Skaggs, R. W. (1985). “Use of drainage control to minimize potential detrimental effects of improved drainage systems.”Proc., Speciality Conf. on Development and Mgmt. Aspects of Irrig. and Drain. Systems, ASCE, New York, N.Y., 352–362.
15.
Gregory, J. D., Skaggs, R. W., Broadhead, R. G., Culbreath, R. H., Bailey, J. R., and Foutz, T. L. (1984).“Hydrologic and water quality impacts of peat mining in North Carolina.”Rep. No. 214, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
16.
Hobbie, J. E., Copeland, B. J., and Harrison, W. G. (1972). “Nutrients in the Pamlico River estuary, N.C., 1969–1971.”Rep. No. 76, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
17.
Kaldivko, E. J., Van Scoyoc, G. E., Monke, E. J., Oates, K. M., and Pask, W. (1991). “Pesticide and nutrient movement into subsurface tile drains on a silt loam soil in Indiana.”J. Envir. Quality, Vol. 20, 264–270.
18.
Kalita, P. K., and Kanwar, R. S. (1990). “Pesticide mobility as affected by water table management practices.”ASAE Paper No. 90-2089, Am. Soc. of Agric. Engrs., St. Joseph, Mich.
19.
Leonard, R. A., Shirmohammadi, A., Johnson, A. W., and Marti, L. R.(1988). “Pesticide transport in shallow groundwater.”Trans. ASAE, 31(3), 776–788.
20.
Logan, J. J., Eckert, D. J., and Beak, D. G. (1993). “Tillage, crop and climatic effects on runoff and tile drainage losses of nitrate and four herbicides.”Soil and Tillage Res., Vol. 30, 75–103.
21.
Miller, J. M. (1985). “Effects of freshwater discharges into primary nursery areas for juvenile fish and shellfish: criteria for their protection.”Water Management and Estuarine Nurseries; UNC Sea Grant Publication No. UNC-SG-WP-85-2, W. Gilliam, J. Miller,L. Pietrafesa, and W. Skaggs, eds., UNC, 62–84.
22.
Miller, J. M., Currin, B. M. and Moser, M. L. (1988). “Broad creek report—faunal studies.”Freshwater inflow and Broad Creek Estuary, North Carolina; UNC Sea Grant Spec. Rep., M. F. Overton, J. S. Fisher, J. M. Miller, and L. J. Pietrafesa, eds., UNC, 213–247.
23.
Moser, M. L. (1987). “Effects of salinity fluctuation on juvenile estuarine fish,” PhD dissertation, Zoology Dept., N.C. State Univ., Raleigh, N.C.
24.
Munster, C. L., Skaggs, R. W., Parsons, J. E., Evans, R. O., and Gilliam, J. W.(1994). “Simulating aldicarb transport in a drained field.”Trans. ASAE, 37(6), 1817–1824.
25.
Noga, E. J., Dykstra, M. J., and Levine, J. F. (1989). “Fish diseases of the Albemarle-Pamlico Estuary.”Rep. No. 238, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
26.
Paerl, H. W. (1982). “Environmental factors promoting and regulating N2 fixing blue-green algal blooms in the Chowan River, N.C.”Rep. No. 176, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
27.
Paerl, H. W. (1983). “Factors regulating nuisance blue-green algal bloom potentials in the Lower Neuse River, N.C.”Rep. No. 188, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
28.
Paerl, H. W. (1987). “Dynamics of blue-green algal ( Microcystis aeruginosa ) blooms in the Lower Neuse River, North Carolina: causative factors and potential controls.”Rep. No. 229, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
29.
Pate, P. P., and Jones, R. (1981). “Effects of upland drainage on estuarine nursery areas of Pamlico Sound, North Carolina.”Working Paper No. 81-10; UNC Sea Grant, UNC, Raleigh, N.C.
30.
Pavelis, G. A. (1987). “Farm drainage in the United States: history, status, and prospects.”Publ. 1455, U.S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D.C.
31.
Pietrafesa, L. J. (1985). “Response of Rose Bay to freshwater inputs.”Water Management and Estuarine Nurseries; UNC Sea Grant Publ. No. UNC-SG-WP-85-2, W. Gilliam, J. Miller, L. Pietrafesa, and W. Skaggs, eds., UNC, 21–61.
32.
Pietrafesa, L. J., Janowitz, G. S., Chao, T. Y., Weisberg, R. H., Askari, F., and Noble, E. (1986). “The physical oceanography of Pamlico Sound.”UNC Sea Grant Publi. UNC-WP-86-5, UNC, Raleigh, N.C.
33.
Pietrafesa, L. J., Askari, F., and Gabriel, C. (1988). “On salinity fluctuations in Broad Creek.”Freshwater inflow and Broad Creek Estuary, North Carolina. UNC Sea Grant Spec. Rep., M. F. Overton, J. S. Fisher, J. M. Miller, and L. J. Pietrafesa, eds., UNC, Raleigh, N.C., 62–212.
34.
Pivetz, B., and Steenhuis, T. S. (1989). “Pesticide, nitrate, and tracer loss in agricultural tile lines and to ground water under conventional and conservation tillage.”ASAE Paper No. 89–2579, Am. Soc. of Agric. Engrs., St. Joseph, Mich.
35.
Shirmohammadi, A., Camp, C. R., and Thomas, D. L.(1992). “Water table management for field-sized areas in the Atlantic coastal plain.”J. Soil and Water Conservation, 47(1), 52–57.
36.
Skaggs, R. W., Gilliam, J. W., Sheets, T. J., and Barnes, J. S. (1980). “Effect of agricultural land development on drainage waters in the North Carolina Tidewater Region.”Rep. No. 159, North Carolina Water Resour. Res. Inst., Raleigh, N.C.
37.
Skaggs, R. W., Gilliam, J. W., and Evans, R. O. (1991). “A computer simulation study of pocosin hydrology.”Wetlands 11, Spec. Issue, 399–416.
38.
Skaggs. R. W., Breve, and M. A., and Gilliam(1994). “Hydrologic and water quality impacts of agricultural drainage.”Envir. Sci. and Technol., 24(1), 1–32.
39.
Smith, Jr., S., and Cullum, R. F. (1992). “Pesticide transport in loessial uplands of Mississippi.”ASAE Paper No. 92-2613, Am. Soc. of Agric. Engrs., St. Joseph, Mich.
40.
Southwick, L. M., Willis, G. H., Bengston, R. L., and Lormand, T. J.(1990). “Atrazine and Metolachlor in subsurface drain water in Louisiana.”J. Irrig. and Drain. Engrg., ASCE, 116(1), 16–23.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
Copyright © 1995 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Jul 1, 1995
Published in print: Jul 1995
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.