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ARS Home » Midwest Area » St. Paul, Minnesota » Soil and Water Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #315845
Title: Effect of alternative surface inlet designs on sediment and phosphorus drainage losses

Author
item Feyereisen, Gary
item FRANCESCONI, WENDY - International Center For Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)
item Smith, Douglas
item Schneider, Sharon
item Wente, Christopher - Chris
item KRUEGER, ERIK - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/15/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Open surface inlets that connect to subsurface tile drainage systems provide a direct pathway for sediment, nutrients, and agrochemicals to surface waters. This study was conducted to determine whether modifying open inlets by burying them in gravel capped with 30 cm of sandy clay loam soil or in very coarse sand/fine gravel could reduce suspended sediment and phosphorus concentrations and loads in the drainage effluent. In Indiana, USA, a pair of closed depressions in adjacent fields were fitted with both open inlet tile risers and blind inlets and monitored for flow and water chemistry. Paired comparisons on a storm event basis during the growing season showed that suspended sediment loads were reduced by 64% for the closed versus open inlets. Total phosphorus (TP) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) loads were 66 and 50% less for the closed inlets, respectively. In Minnesota, USA, suspended sediment and SRP concentrations were monitored for three years prior to and following installation of closed inlets in an unreplicated large-field on-farm study. The results confirm the reduction in suspended sediment concentrations/loads observed in Indiana. The SRP concentrations were not different during the non-snowmelt season. The Minnesota results indicate that SRP concentrations during spring snowmelt are higher than during the remainder of the year and that snowmelt losses are a sizable portion of the annual sediment and SRP budgets. Replacing open inlet tile risers in closed depressions with the blind inlet designs studied reduced sediment and phosphorus loads from agricultural closed depressions.