2012 ND Water Quality Council Conference

Bismarck, ND February 28, 2012

Use controlled drainage to reduce

chemical loads

Xinhua Jia, Ph.D.

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND

Introduction

Subsurface drainage (SD) has become popular and

necessary in the Red River Valley due to wet weather

conditions, rising water table, and increased soil salinity.

Controlled drainage (CD) uses weirs or structures to

manage the water level in the field so that it is drained

only when it is necessary.

(Sando et al., 2006)

Experimental Site:

Fairmount

Richland County

North Dakota

Subsurface Drainage

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Elev

atio

n (

ft)

Distance from the west to the east side of the field (ft)

Elevation

Tile location

Controlled Drainage

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Elev

atio

n (

ft)

Distance from the west to the east side of the field (ft)

Elevation

Tile location

Controlled

Drainage Subirrigation

To South

To West

Sump and Subirrigation Pumps

Drainage Outflow

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

3/8 4/8 5/8 6/8 7/8 8/8 9/8 10/8 11/8 12/8

Dra

inag

e O

utl

fow

(m

m/d

ay)

2008 (5.7 in)

2009 (5.7 in)

2010 (5.8 in)

PO4-P concentrations at the outlet

0.02 mg/L

NOx-N concentrations at the outlet

1 mg/L

TN concentrations at the outlet

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) concentrations

at the outlet

SO4 concentrations at the outlet

Cation-Anion Balance at the Outlet in 2009

-5

0

5

10

15

20

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

5/27 6/10 6/24 7/8 7/22 8/5 8/19 9/2 9/16 9/30 10/14

Diffe

ren

ce (%

) Ion

s (m

eq

/L)

Total Cations Total Anions % Dif

Anion-Cation Balance in 2009

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

6/9/2009 10/8/2009

Me

q/L

Ca

K

Mg

Na

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

6/9/2009 10/8/2009

NO3

SO4

HCO3

Cl

NOx-N, TN, and PO4-P loads to the streams

TDS and SO4 loads to the stream

Reduction in chemical loads due to

controlled drainage

From June 16 to 27, 2008 10 days

403,998 gal of drainage outflow

PO4-P SO4 NO3-N TN TDS

Reduction (lb/ac) 0.00 337 1.26 1.34 331

Total reduction (lb) 0.07 16,836 63 67 16,559

Summary

Using controlled drainage can reduce chemical

loads to the surface water system

High SO4 and TDS loads were released to the

surface water

Control drainage for 10 days in spring 2008 could

reduce 16,836 lb of SO4, and 16,559 lb of TDS into the

streams for 50 ac field

Best cooperator in Richland County, ND

North Dakota Department of Health

North Dakota State Water Commission

USDA NRCS and USDA CSREES

North Dakota Water Resources Institute

North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station

Xiaodong Zhang, Thomas Scherer, Dean Steele,

Thomas DeSutter, Zhulu Lin, Roxanne Johnson

Don Lin, James Moos, Kevin Horsager, Jana Daeuber

Ishara Rijal, Xiao Pang, Kate Overmoe, Kelsey Kolars

Acknowledgements