Zezula - Water Quality Monitoring in the School Brand Watershed

Helping People Help the Land.

Water Quality Monitoring in the School Branch Watershed (Indiana)

Shannon Zezula, State Resource ConservationistUnited States Department of AgricultureNatural Resources Conservation Service

Memphis, TN December 3, 2015

School Branch Monitoring Project

Objective:

Document the potential for production

agriculture to complement water

resources through the implementation

of soil health management systems

Healthy, Productive Soils System Criteria

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.www.nrcs.usda.gov

Indiana is a national leader in Soil Health!

• What does Soil Health mean?

• Soil Health Key Indicators =

• Increasing organic matter

• Improving aggregate stability

• Increasing water infiltration

• Increasing water-holding capacity

• Improving nutrient cycling

• Enhancing and diversifying soil biology

Soil Health is not a destination...it’s a Journey



Mining Organic Matter Is Not An Option!

• Each 1% of O.M. contains:

10,000 lbs. of C

1000 lbs. of N

100 lbs. of P

100 lbs. of S

14,000 gallons of H2O



Soil

He

alth

Pri

nci

ple

s



• Achieving soil health through:

• A Quality No-till (Never-Till) System

• Diverse and Strategic Cover Crops

• Adapted Nutrient Management

• Integrated Weed & Pest Management

• Diverse Crop Rotations

• Precision Farming Technology

• Prescriptive Buffers and other

Edge-of-field practices

Indiana is a national leader in Soil Health!

Soil Health is not a destination...it’s a Journey



154,590 acres

3,832 acres

223,469 acres

0

50,000

100,000

150,000

200,000

250,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

INDIANA PRS-REPORTED APPLIED COVER CROP ACRES(Includes EQIP, AWEP, WHIP, CSP, and CTA) 199,197 acres



0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

1,000,000

2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Transect = 184,000 acres

68,141 acres

Transect = 441,100 acres

154,590 acres

933,397 acres

199,197 acres

Indiana FARMERS ARE

IMPLEMENTING COVER

CROPS AS PART OF THEIR

MANAGEMENT DECISIONS

AND TECHNICAL

ASSISTANCE - NOT RELYING

ON PROGRAMS

= SUCCESS!

~ 3 times

~ 3 times

~ 4.5 times




Objective:

Document the potential for production

agriculture to complement water

resources through the implementation

of soil health management systems

Eagle Creek Watershed Past Monitoring (Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis –IUPUI)

Eagle Creek Watershed Past Monitoring (IUPUI)

Approximately 10 mi. NW of Indianapolis

Area above Dam = 419 km2

(162mi2)

11 Subwatersheds

2007 Land Cover

63% Agriculture

25% Corn

20% Soy

18% Pasture/Hay

19% Urban

13% Forested

2% Open Water

Eagle Creek Reservoir – EutrophicDrinking Water Source for Indianapolis

Nitrate - ECWMP 12/4/08 - 3/9/11

Site

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 SS STE STW

Nitra

te (

mg/L

)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

M. Stouder


Total Phosphorus - ECWMP 12/4/08 - 3/9/11

Site

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 SS STE STW

Tota

l P

(m

g/L

)

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.0

M. Stouder


Slide 15

Past Monitoring Limitations (not just Eagle Creek...)

• Monitoring Frequencyo Hourly vs. Daily vs. Weekly vs. Monthly

• Monitoring Durationo Number of Years; Growing Season vs. Winter

• Monitoring Location & Sizeo In-Stream vs. Edge-of-Field vs. Size vs. Mgmt.

Slide 16

Past Monitoring Limitations (not just Eagle Creek...)

• Land Useo Agriculture vs. Forested vs. Urban vs. Residential

• Land Management o Tillage vs. Nutrients (rate, time, form, place) vs.

Rotation vs. ...


80% Agriculture

Over 40% in soil health management systems

• continuous no-till +

• cover crops +

• intense nutrient management

Targeted Efforts = National Water Quality Initiative (NWQI)

Field to Market - Field Print Calculator

School Branch Crop Management

Typical Tillage Strip Tillage

No-Till + Cover Crops

Slide 19

Made Possible by Two of the Nation’s Soil Health Leaders

Slide 20

School Branch

Monitoring Project

Continuous/Automatic Monitoring 24 hours/day7 days/week

365 days/year

• Automatic Edge-of-field

• Continuous Water Quality Gage (USGS “Sentry”/”Super”)

• Stream Gages

Bi-Weekly/Monthly Grabs + Gage

Bi-Weekly/Monthly Grabs + Gage

Automatic edge-of-field sampling = – Surface runoff measurements

+

– Sub-surface

– Both in heated structures for year-round

sampling

Slide 21

Farmer + NRCS (201/202) + IUPUI + ISA + SWCD

Edge-of-field Baseline Period

= crop years 2015, 2016

Soy-Corn Rotation + No-Till +

Cover Crops + buffer + split N+

Fall Broadcast solid P at Tri-

State Recommendations




State Recommendations

Edge-of-field Treatment Period

= crop years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020




State Recommendations Soy-Corn Rotation + No-

Till + Cover Crops +

buffer + split N + Liquid

injected P at planting at

adapted rates

EoF Baseline and Treatment Periods

= crop years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020

Soils = grid and multi-

depth sampling;

Plants = annual tissue

tests

Soils = grid and multi-

depth sampling;

Plants = annual tissue

tests

Slide 25

Bio-Reactor/Bioswale Monitoring

(Indiana University - Purdue

University Indianapolis – CEES)

Data collected since 2011 and will

continue

Continuous Water Quality Sampling Gage

and Stream Gages = – Data are available in real-time on the web

Slide 26

USGS

School Branch West

(Maloney Farm)

School Branch East

(Starkey Farm)

Continuous Soil Moisture Monitoring = – Data are available in real-time on the web

IGS + IDEM

Groundwater Monitoring

+

Biological (Algae + Fish + Macro-Invertebrates)

Monitoring

+

Source Tracking

USGS

Slide 29

School Branch Monitoring Plan

Edge-of-field• Farmers, IUPUI, ISA/ICMC, SWCD, NRCS

In-Stream (Sentry Gage)• USGS

In-Stream (Fixed Station)• USGS, IDEM, MCHD

In-Stream (Biology)• USGS

Groundwater• USGS, IDEM

Nutrient Source Tracking• USGS

Sediment Characterization• IUPUI

Soils and Plant Condition• IUPUI, NRCS, IGS, Farmers

N

P

Sediment

Discharge

DO

pH

E Coli

Pesticides

Biology

Slide 30

Key Questions to be Answered:

In fields managed with long-term no-till + cover crops + precise

nutrient management + buffers:

• What is the nutrient and sediment load of this system

from the edge-of-field?

• What is the nutrient load from the edge-of-field by

switching phosphorus application rate, form, placement

and timing?

• What is the edge-of-field nutrient load from a bio-

reactor/bio-swale?

Slide 31

Key Questions to be Answered:

• What are the in-stream loads of nitrogen, phosphorus, and

suspended sediment in a stream reach where 40% of the upstream

cropland drainage area is managed with long-term no-till + cover

crops + precision nutrient management + buffers and the other 60%

of cropland in reduced tillage systems, compared with other reaches

of the stream?

• What are the biological community responses in reaches of the

stream that have different combinations of upstream agricultural

and residential land use?

PA JacintheRainfall: May 15-17 (0.5 inch), June 9-10 (0.7 inch)

Eagle Creek Watershed Monitoring (Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis )

Nitrate (data not published)

No-Till + Cover Crops +

Precision Nutrient Mgmt

PA JacintheRainfall: May 15-17 (0.5 inch), June 9-10 (0.7 inch)

Eagle Creek Watershed Monitoring (Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis )

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus (data not published)

No-Till + Cover Crops +

Precision Nutrient Mgmt

Slide 34

School Branch Monitoring

Future Plans

Edge-of-field Monitoring

Add farmer sites to include:

• Existing tillage to no-till/strip-till

• No cover crops to Cover Crops

• Existing nutrient mgmt to various

4R principles

Conservation Practices

(current funding available through

NRCS NWQI, CREP, others)

• Increase buffers

• Increase no-till/strip-till adoption

• Increase conservation cropping

systems adoption

• Install a 2-stage ditch

School Branch Monitoring Project Partners

• Farmers

• Indiana University - Purdue University Indianapolis

(IUPUI)

• Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)

• US Geological Survey (USGS)

• Indiana Department of Environmental Management

(IDEM)

• Marion County Health Department (MHCD)

• Indiana Soybean Alliance/Indiana Corn Marketing

Council (ISA/ICMC)

• Hendricks County Soil and Water Conservation

Districts (SWCD)

• Indiana Geological Survey (IGS)