Location: Agroecosystems Management Research
Project Number: 5030-13000-012-003-I
Project Type: Interagency Reimbursable Agreement
Start Date: Jul 31, 2021
End Date: Sep 30, 2024
Objective:
The principal focus of the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) to quantify the environmental effects of conservation practices and programs that includes development of science-based approaches to manage agricultural landscapes for environmental quality. Specifically, continue to develop hydrologic, water chemistry and land use data for the CEAP watersheds in the South Fork of the Iowa River (SFIR) and Walnut Creek, and continue to work on the STEWARDS interface between SQL server and the internet, applications supporting data input, and provide continual improvements to the functionality of the database.
Approach:
1. The effects of conservation activities on water quality will be assessed at the watershed scale using models with ARS long-term watershed datasets, expertise, and resources:
a. Continue to collect hydrologic and water quality samples from stream water at three automated stations in South Fork of the Iowa River (SFIR) watershed and at one station in the Walnut Creek (WC) watershed.
b. Collect hydrologic data and water quality samples from tile-drainage systems at two locations in SFIR and one location in WC watershed.
c. Continue to collect data on precipitation, temperature, and wind speed in the SFIR and WC watersheds and estimate evapotranspiration.
d. Analyze water quality samples to determine nitrate, total phosphorus and sediment concentrations.
e. Process data to produce estimates of daily nutrient loads.
f. Deposit hydrologic, nutrient concentrations and meteorological data in STEWARDS, an internet-accessible database containing data on ARS CEAP watersheds.
2. Maintain adequate computer networks to support the internet-available databases, back-up and developmental databases. Develop new techniques, tools, and functional capabilities to enhance the CEAP database management effort and interface with other national water databases. Work with CEAP investigators to incorporate new data into the database as it becomes available.
