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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Oxford, Mississippi » National Sedimentation Laboratory » Water Quality and Ecology Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #394342
Research Project: Enhancing Long-Term Agroecosystem Sustainability of Water and Soil Resources Through Science and Technology

Location: Water Quality and Ecology Research

Title: Vegetated ditches for mitigation of complex contaminant mixtures

Author
item Moore, Matthew
item FARRIS, JERRY - Arkansas State University
item Nifong, Rachel
item BENNETT, ERIN - Trent University
item Taylor, Jason
item Locke, Martin
item KROGER, ROBBIE - Covington Civil And Environmental

Submitted to: Book Chapter
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/2022
Publication Date: 6/5/2023
Citation: Moore, M.T., Farris, J.L., Nifong, R.L., Bennett, E.R., Taylor, J.M., Locke, M.A., Kroger, R. 2023. Vegetated ditches for mitigation of complex contaminant mixtures. In: Menone, M.L., Metcalfe, C., editors. The ecotoxicology of aquatic macrophytes. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International. p. 171-192. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27833-4_7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27833-4_7

Interpretive Summary: Drainage ditches have long been viewed as simply a way to transport water off of agricultural fields to prevent crop loss. This agricultural runoff typically contains soil, pesticides, and fertilizer in various concentrations. Over 20 years of USDA-ARS research have demonstrated that drainage ditches are unique systems that provide services to improve runoff water quality by filtering out many of these potentially harmful chemicals. This filtering ability is accomplished through plants (and the microbes that live on them) that grow within the drainage ditches. Research results on filtering of nutrients and pesticides are presented from USDA-ARS as well as current literature. Additionally, future challenges of vegetated drainage ditch research are presented.

Technical Abstract: The global population is expected to climb to 8.5 billion by the year 2030, and by 2050, it is projected to reach 9.7 billion individuals. Meeting the food and fiber requirements for humanity with finite land resources will require agriculture to continue to increase production while also decreasing potential impacts too natural resources. In addition to in-field conservation practices that focus on tillage reduction and cover crops to prevent soil erosion, edge-of-field conservation practices that mitigate impacts of agricultural runoff are also critical to protect downstream aquatic resources. Edge-of-field practices typically include areas with vegetated buffer strips, stiff-grass hedges, riparian zones, or constructed wetlands which can result in loss of production acreage. To develop alternative edge-of-field practices that limit loss of production acreage, research was initiated in the 1990s to evaluate the possibility of using vegetated agricultural drainage ditches as a management practice to mitigate contaminants (primarily pesticides and nutrients) in runoff. This chapter examines early vegetated ditch mitigation studies from the United States and explores the growth of this mitigation concept in developing countries. This chapter is not meant to serve as an in-depth review; however, we highlight (1) important concepts behind the use of vegetated drainage ditches; (2) case studies of contaminant mitigation by vegetated ditches, including those by the United States Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS); (3) new technologies incorporated within vegetated drainage ditches to further promote contaminant mitigation; and (4) challenges and future research directions.