ABSTRACT:
Soil erosion is considered the biggest contributor to nonpoint source pollution in the United States according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the federally mandated National Pollution Discharge Elimination System. Soil loss rates from construction sites can be 10 to 20 times that of agricultural lands. The use of surface applied organic amendments has been shown to reduce runoff and erosion, however, with the exception of animal manure, little research has focused on nutrient loss from these amendments. Four types of compost blankets, hydroseed, silt fence, and a bare soil (control) were applied in field test plots. Treatments were seeded with common bermuda grass. A rainfall simulator applied rainfall at an average rate equivalent to a 50 yr hr−1 storm event (7.75 cm hr−1). Three simulated rain events were conducted: immediately after treatment application, at three months when vegetation was established, and at one year when the vegetation was mature. After three months, the compost generated five times less runoff than hydroseed with silt fence, and after one year, generated 24 percent less runoff. All treatments proved better than the control at reducing solids loss. Total solid loads were as much as 3.5 times greater from hydroseed and silt fence compared to the composts during the first storm, and as much as 16 times greater during the second storm. Materials high in inorganic nitrogen (N) released greater amounts of nitrogen in storm runoff; however, these materials showed reduced N loss over time. Hydroseeding generated significantly higher total phosphorus (P) and dissolved reactive P loads compared to compost in storm runoff during the first storm event.
Footnotes
L. Britt Faucette is research director for Filtrexx International in Atlanta, Georgia. Carl F. Jordan is senior ecologist at the Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia. L. Mark Risse is associate professor in the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering at the University of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia. Miguel Cabrera is professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at the University of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia. David C. Coleman is a distinguished research professor in the Institute of Ecology at the University of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia. Larry T. West is a professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Science at the University of Georgia in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Copyright 2005 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society