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Title: MODELING COLIFORM BACTERIA AND BROMIDE TRANSPORT IN LARGE IN-SITU COLUMNS OF A FRACTURED SOIL

Author
item SADEGHI, ALI
item Pachepsky, Yakov
item SHELTON, DANIEL
item STOUT, WILLIAM

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy Meetings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2002
Publication Date: 11/10/2002
Citation: Sadeghi, A.M., Pachepsky, Y.A., Shelton, D.R., Stout, W.L. 2002. Modeling coliform bacteria and bromide transport in large in-situ columns of a fractured soil. American Society of Agronomy Meetings. p.178.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Manures are sources of several human pathogens that can potentially contribute to surface and ground water contamination. Microorganisms must first be released from the manure matrix before they can infiltrate into and leach through vadose zone. The objective of this study was to estimate rates of rainfall-induced release of fecal coliform (FC) from surface-applied bovine manure. Simulated rainfall of 7.1 cm h-1 was applied to the surface of 90 cm-long lysimeters filled with the undisturbed stony soil, and, when the steady-state was reached, clumps of manure were placed on the surface. Rainfall was continued for about 5 hours after application of manure, and 10-min leachate portions were analyzed for turbidity and FC. The convective-dispersive equation with linear adsorption/exclusion and the first-order removal/regrowth terms was used as a model of the coliform transport in soil. Asymptotic properties of the solution of this equation with the exponentially decreasing boundary concentration were used to infer the release rate constant from the FC breakthrough curves. A value of 0.0054/min was found for the FC release rate constant. The regression line of reduced coliform concentrations on reduced turbidity values was not significantly different from the 'one-to-one' line; was 0.807. Assuming that turbidity can be used as a measure of concentration of manure particulates in leachates, we found that average values for the release rate constants were not significantly different for FC and manure particulates. The average velocity of bacteria and manure particulates transport was about seven times larger than the average pore velocity. The proposed technique of estimating FC and manure release rates shows promise to be used in further studies needed to elucidate and assess factors affecting release rate.