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Effect of ditch dredging on the fate of nutrients in deep drainage ditches of the Midwestern United States

Douglas R. Smith and Elizabeth A. Pappas
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation July 2007, 62 (4) 252-261;
Douglas R. Smith
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Elizabeth A. Pappas
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Abstract:

Dredging of drainage ditches is necessary to ensure that agricultural fields are drained adequately. This study compared the potential impacts of dredging on water quality. Using a fluvarium (stream simulator), bed material collected from drainage ditches prior to dredging was better able to remove NO3-N, NH4-N, and soluble P from water than material collected from the bed of the ditches after dredging. Water column NH4-N concentrations were reduced to 0 mg L−1 (0 ppm) earlier in pre-dredged bed material. Nutrient uptake rates were greater for the ditch bed materials collected prior to dredging. Dredging decreased the specific surface area of ditch bed sediments and removed some of the biota responsible for nutrient uptake by the bed sediments in these ditches. Resource managers should perform maintenance tasks, including ditch dredging, when nutrient loads are expected to be low, thus minimizing the potential water quality impacts.

Footnotes

  • Douglas R. Smith is a soil scientist and Elizabeth A. Pappas is a hydraulic engineer at the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, West Lafayette, Indiana.

  • Copyright 2007 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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Journal of Soil and Water Conservation: 62 (4)
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
Vol. 62, Issue 4
July/August 2007
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Effect of ditch dredging on the fate of nutrients in deep drainage ditches of the Midwestern United States
Douglas R. Smith, Elizabeth A. Pappas
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jul 2007, 62 (4) 252-261;

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Effect of ditch dredging on the fate of nutrients in deep drainage ditches of the Midwestern United States
Douglas R. Smith, Elizabeth A. Pappas
Journal of Soil and Water Conservation Jul 2007, 62 (4) 252-261;
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