Effectiveness of low-grade weirs for nutrient removal in an agricultural landscape in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Littlejohn, K.A.; Poganski, Beth H.; Kröger, R.; Ramírez-Ávila, John J.

doi:10.1016/j.agwat.2013.09.001

Cited by 30 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…At both sites, the hydrologic characteristics of the flow events were highly variable with some flow statistics varying by two or more orders of magnitude (table 3). The hydrologic characteristics and variability found in BLT1 and LWSR are consistent with findings of other research on agricultural ditches in Mississippi (Baker et al 2018;Littlejohn et al 2014).…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In this study, event concentrations for a given constituent can span two to three orders of magnitude (table 1), and event flows are similarly variable (table 3). The high variability of water quality and hydrology in the MAP has also been documented elsewhere (Littlejohn et al 2014). A comparison of power across the various scenarios (percentage change versus number of sampled events) for both the difference-in-median and difference-in-intercept tests highlight why we may not have detected many changesthe number of sampled events was low given the natural variability of event con-…”

Section: Potential Changes Between Early and Late Periodssupporting

confidence: 63%

“…The mixed results presented here are consistent with other studies in agricultural drainages in the MAP, as well as other intensive agricultural areas with BMPs. Some studies have shown decreases in sediment (Lizotte et al 2014;Corsi et al 2005), P (Bishop et al 2005;Baker et al 2016;Littejohn et al 2014), and N (Corsi et al 2005;Littlejohn et al 2014), while other studies have shown little to no reduction in sediment or nutrient (Lizotte et al 2017;Baker et al 2018;Corsi et al 2012).…”

Section: Potential Changes Between Early and Late Periodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing water quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in northwestern Mississippi, United States, and simulation-based power analyses

Murphy¹,

Hicks²,

Stocks³

2020

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

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Hydrology (streamflow and stage) and water quality (suspended sediment, total nitrogen [N], ammonia [NH 3 ], total Kjeldahl N, nitrate plus nitrite [NO 3 + NO 2 ], and total phosphorus [TP]) were monitored in two small agricultural drainages in northwestern Mississippi to document changes in water quality that coincided with the implementation of best management practices (BMPs) in upstream drainages. Using an event-based data set and bootstrapping techniques, we tested for difference and equivalence in median event concentration and differences in concentration-streamflow (C-Q) relationships between an early and late period at each site, where most of the major BMP implementation occurred during the early period. Results for Bee Lake Tributary were inconclusive. Using 95% confidence intervals, none of the constituents were statistically different or equivalent for median event concentrations between the periods, indicating a lack of evidence to determine whether water quality had changed or stayed the same, and only TP had a significantly higher C-Q intercept during the late period. At Lake Washington Tributary, more than half the constituents had a significantly different median, slope, or intercept between periods, indicating a 35% or more decrease in event concentration following a period of intense BMP implementation. These mixed results could be due to a variety of differences between the sites including the type and timing of BMP implementation, production practices, and crop types. We also used the monitoring data to generate synthetic data and performed a simulation-based power analysis to explore the ability to detect change under 25 scenarios of sampled event counts and hypothetical percentage changes. The simulation-based power analysis indicated that natural variability in event concentration and flow hindered our ability to detect change. The results from this study can be used to guide future decisions pertaining to monitoring efforts in small agricultural drainage basins in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain.

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Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Potential Changes Between Early and Late Periodssupporting

confidence: 63%

Section: Potential Changes Between Early and Late Periodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessing water quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in northwestern Mississippi, United States, and simulation-based power analyses

Murphy¹,

Hicks²,

Stocks³

2020

Journal of Soil and Water Conservation

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“…Gilliam and Skaggs () noted that controlled drainage had the potential to alter both hydrologic characteristics and nutrient efflux. Earlier field studies on low‐grade weirs have noted frustrations with alternation of ditches from source to sink depending on rainfall patterns (Kröger et al ., ) and seasonal effects (Littlejohn et al ., ), which complicated the clarity of research findings. However, it is reasonable to hypothesize that weirs should produce results similar to those of other controlled drainage methods because the mechanism is similar — to retain and hold water.…”

Section: Low‐grade Weirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Littlejohn et al . () reported median NO 3 − load reductions of 25%, with a 14% reduction in dissolved P in a field‐scale evaluation of storm event runoff.…”

Section: Low‐grade Weirsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementing Innovative Drainage Management Practices in the Mississippi River Basin to Enhance Nutrient Reductions

Kröger¹,

Czarnecki

Tank

et al. 2015

J American Water Resour Assoc

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In the Mississippi River Basin (MRB), practices that enhance drainage (e.g., channelization, tile drainage) are necessary management tools in order to maintain optimal agricultural production in modern farming systems. However, these practices facilitate, and may speed the delivery of excess nutrients and sediments to downstream water bodies via agricultural streams and ditches. These nonpoint sources contribute to elevated nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico, which has been linked to widespread hypoxia and associated ecological and economic problems. Research suggests agricultural drainage ditches are important links between farm fields and downstream ecosystems, and application of new management practices may play an important role in the mitigation of water quality impairments from agricultural watersheds. In this article, we describe how researchers and producers in the MRB are implementing and validating novel best management practices (BMPs) that if used in tandem could provide producers with continued cropping success combined with improved environmental protection. We discuss three BMPs -low-grade weirs, slotted inlet pipes, and the two-stage ditch. While these new BMPs have improved the quality of water leaving agricultural landscapes, they have been validated solely in isolation, at opposite ends of the MRB. These BMPs have similar function and would greatly benefit from stacked incorporation across the MRB to the benefit of the basin as a whole.(KEY TERMS: best management practices; water conservation; sediment; runoff; surface water hydrology; biogeochemistry.)

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Investigating the role of organic carbon amendments and microbial denitrification gene abundance in nitrogen removal from experimental agricultural drainage ditches with low‐grade weirs

Faust

Kröger²,

Baker

et al. 2019

Water Environment Research

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Low-grade weirs placed within agricultural drainage ditches in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley can be used as a management practice to enhance nitrogen removal. The addition of organic carbon amendments within ditches that contain weirs could further increase nitrogen removal. Through repeated trials, changes in NO − 3 -N concentration between inflow and outflow were variable in the ditch without weirs, while only decreases in concentration were observed in ditches with weirs. Significant differences in NO − 3 -N concentrations were observed between treatments, with greater removal of NO − 3 -N observed in dissolved organic carbon treatments compared to control and particulate organic carbon treatments. At medium-and high-flow rates, respectively, dissolved organic carbon treatments resulted in greater NO − 3 -N concentration decreases of 31.6% and 27.1% compared to 19% and 11.6% in particulate organic carbon treatments and 18.6% and 17.2% in control treatments. Significant effects of weirs and sampling date on nirS, nirK, nosZ, and 16S rRNA gene abundances were observed. Observed increases in NO − 3 -N removal with organic carbon amendments, provides support for continued investigation on improving the efficacy of organic carbon amendments as a best management practice for NO − 3 -N removal in agricultural drainage ditches. • Practitioner points• Dissolved organic carbon amendments increased nitrate-nitrogen removal. • Only decreases in nitrate-nitrogen concentration were observed in ditches with weirs. • Increasing flow rate did not affect nitrate-nitrogen removal. • Abundance of denitrification-performing microbes likely did not affect N removal. • Lack of anaerobic soil conditions and short residence time reduced nitrate-N removal.

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Effectiveness of low-grade weirs for nutrient removal in an agricultural landscape in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Cited by 30 publications

References 42 publications

Assessing water quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in northwestern Mississippi, United States, and simulation-based power analyses

Assessing water quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in northwestern Mississippi, United States, and simulation-based power analyses

Implementing Innovative Drainage Management Practices in the Mississippi River Basin to Enhance Nutrient Reductions

Investigating the role of organic carbon amendments and microbial denitrification gene abundance in nitrogen removal from experimental agricultural drainage ditches with low‐grade weirs

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