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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #101767
Title: MITIGATION CAPABILITIES OF AGRICULTURAL DITCH WETLANDS

Author
item MOORE, MATTHEW - UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
item BENNETT, ERIN - UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
item Smith Jr, Sammie
item Cooper, Charles

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/1/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Agricultural drainage ditches are not only direct links between agricultural fields and receiving water bodies, but they also serve as transporters of sediments, nutrients, and pesticides. These ditches serve as important reservoirs for tailwater recovery systems, habitat for aquatic and terrestrial wildlife, and efficient drains for agricultural fields following storm events. An intensive ditch study was performed within the Mississippi Delta Management Systems Evaluation Area (MDMSEA) near Indianola, Mississippi. Two commonly used pesticides, atrazine and lambda cyhalothrin, were mixed with a known volume of water to simulate a storm runoff event. Pesticide concentrations were based on estimations of runoff patterns and pesticide application within the MDMSEA. The simulated storm event was released into a previously surveyed portion of an agricultural drainage ditch. Pesticide concentrations were monitored both spatially and temporally in aqueous, sediment, and plant samples collected over a one month period, using gas chromatography. This research provides baseline data for the mitigation capacity of drainage ditch wetlands, as well as expanding the database for augmentation of current-use best management practices (BMPs).