Tile drainage causes flashy streamflow response in Ohio watersheds

10.22541/au.161615707.73012545/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Samuel Miller ◽

Steve Lyon

Keyword(s):

Lake Erie ◽

Algal Bloom ◽

Annual Runoff ◽

Tile Drainage ◽

Storm Events ◽

Watershed Area ◽

Daily Streamflow ◽

Western Lake ◽

Streamflow Response ◽

Western Lake Erie

Artificial subsurface (tile) drainage is used to increase trafficability and crop yield in much of the Midwest due to soils with naturally poor drainage. Tile drainage has been researched extensively at the field scale, but knowledge gaps remain on how tile drainage influences the streamflow response at the watershed scale. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of tile drainage on the streamflow response for 59 Ohio watersheds with varying percentages of tile drainage and explore patterns between the Western Lake Erie Bloom Severity Index to streamflow response in heavily tile-drained watersheds. Daily streamflow was downloaded from 2010-2019 and used to calculated mean annual peak daily runoff, mean annual runoff ratio, the percent of observations in which daily runoff exceeded mean annual runoff (TQmean), baseflow versus stormflow percentages, and the streamflow recession constant. Heavily-drained watersheds (> 40 % of watershed area) consistently reported flashier streamflow behavior compared to watersheds with low percentages of tile drainage (< 15% of watershed area) as indicated by significantly lower baseflow percentages, TQmean, and streamflow recession constants. The mean baseflow percent for watersheds with high percentages of tile drainage was 20.9 % compared to 40.3 % for watersheds with low percentages of tile drainage. These results are in contrast to similar research regionally indicating greater baseflow proportions and less flashy hydrographs (higher TQmean) for heavily-drained watersheds. Stormflow runoff metrics in heavily-drained watersheds were significantly positively correlated to western Lake Erie algal bloom severity. Given the recent trend in more frequent large rain events and warmer temperatures in the Midwest, increased harmful algal bloom severity will continue to be an ecological and economic problem for the region if management efforts are not addressed at the source. Management practices that reduce the streamflow response time to storm events, such as buffer strips, wetland restoration, or drainage water management, are likely to improve the aquatic health conditions of downstream communities by limiting the transport of nutrients following storm events.

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Hydrological Response of a Patchy High Arctic Wetland

Hydrology Research ◽

10.2166/nh.2000.0019 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 31 (4-5) ◽

pp. 317-338 ◽

Cited By ~ 21

Author(s):

Kathy L. Young ◽

Ming-ko Woo

Keyword(s):

Weather Conditions ◽

High Arctic ◽

Ground Ice ◽

Ice Melt ◽

Snow Storage ◽

Streamflow Response ◽

Dry Seasons ◽

And Storage ◽

Surface And Subsurface Flow ◽

Present Understanding

High Arctic patchy wetlands are ecological oases in a polar desert environment and are vulnerable to climatic warming. At present, understanding of their responses to external factors (climate and terrain) is limited. This study examines a wetland located in a topographic depression maintained by seasonal snowmelt, ground ice melt and lateral inflows. The wetland is located on Cornwallis Island, Nunavut, Canada. Hydrological, climatological and soil observations were made over several summers with different weather conditions. The summers of 1996 and 1997 were cool and wet but the summer of 1998 was warm and dry. The melt in 1996 was rapid due to rain on snow events and only lasted six days. Deeper snow in 1997 prolonged the melt season to 18 days. A shallow snow-cover in 1998 and early melt depleted the snow by early June. Surface, groundwater and storage fluctuations in the wetland were dictated by snowmelt, rainfall, evaporation loss from the wetland and lateral inputs which in turn were controlled by the melting of the late-lying snow storage in the catchment. Soil factors influence the spatial variations in ground thaw which affects the surface and subsurface flow. Streamflow response of the wetland reflects a nival regime and augmentation of streamflow thoughout the summer season in all three years is supported by multiple water sources: ground ice melt and suprapermafrost water from a large late-lying snowpack. Overall, this study suggests that the survival of some patchy wetlands depends on their interaction with the surrounding basin, with a dependency probably being more important during warm and dry seasons.

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Dissolved Phosphorus Losses in Tile Drainage under Subirrigation

Water Quality Research Journal ◽

10.2166/wqrj.2006.007 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 41 (1) ◽

pp. 63-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nicolas Stämpfli ◽

Chandra A. Madramootoo

Keyword(s):

Water Table ◽

Residual Effect ◽

Surface Water Quality ◽

Soil Surface ◽

Quality Standard ◽

Tile Drainage ◽

Agricultural Field ◽

Shallow Water Table ◽

Dissolved Phosphorus ◽

Water Table Control

Abstract Recent studies have shown subirrigation (SI) to be effective in reducing nitrate losses from agricultural tile drainage systems. A field study was conducted from 2001 to 2002 in southwestern Québec to evaluate the effect of SI on total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) losses in tile drainage. In an agricultural field with drains installed at a 1-m depth, a SI system with a design water table depth (WTD) of 0.6 m below the soil surface was compared with conventional free drainage (FD). Subirrigation increased drainage outflow volumes in the autumn, when drains were opened and water table control was interrupted for the winter in the SI plots. Outflows were otherwise similar for both treatments. Throughout the study, the TDP concentrations in tile drainage were significantly higher with SI than with FD for seven out of 17 of the sampling dates for which data could be analyzed statistically, and they were never found to be lower for plots under SI than for plots under FD. Of the seven dates for which the increase was significant, six fell in the period during which water table control was not implemented (27 September 2001 to 24 June 2002). Hence, it appears that SI tended to increase TDP concentrations compared with FD, and that it also had a residual effect between growing seasons. Almost one-third of all samples from the plots under SI exceeded Québec's surface water quality standard (0.03 mg TDP L-1), whereas concentrations in plots under FD were all below the standard. Possible causes of the increase in TDP concentrations in tile drainage with SI are high TDP concentrations found in the well water used for SI and a higher P solubility caused by the shallow water table.

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NITRATE REDUCTION FROM TILE DRAINAGE IN A RESTORED OXBOW WETLAND

10.1130/abs/2016nc-275519 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Stephen J. Kalkhoff ◽

◽

Joseph Schubauer-Berigan

Keyword(s):

Nitrate Reduction ◽

Tile Drainage

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Detecting changes in streamflow response to changes in non-climatic catchment conditions: farm dam development in the Murray–Darling basin, Australia

Journal of Hydrology ◽

10.1016/s0022-1694(02)00023-9 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 262 (1-4) ◽

pp. 84-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 79

Author(s):

S.Yu. Schreider ◽

A.J. Jakeman ◽

R.A. Letcher ◽

R.J. Nathan ◽

B.P. Neal ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Murray Darling Basin ◽

Streamflow Response

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Comparison of performance of tile drainage routines in SWAT 2009 and 2012 in an extensively tile-drained watershed in the Midwest

Hydrology and Earth System Sciences ◽

10.5194/hess-22-89-2018 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 22 (1) ◽

pp. 89-110 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Tian Guo ◽

Margaret Gitau ◽

Venkatesh Merwade ◽

Jeffrey Arnold ◽

Raghavan Srinivasan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Calculation Method ◽

Assessment Tool ◽

Curve Number ◽

Surface Flow ◽

Tile Drainage ◽

Random Pattern ◽

Field Site ◽

Nitrate N ◽

Simulated Surface ◽

Tile Flow

Abstract. Subsurface tile drainage systems are widely used in agricultural watersheds in the Midwestern US and enable the Midwest area to become highly productive agricultural lands, but can also create environmental problems, for example nitrate-N contamination associated with drainage waters. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been used to model watersheds with tile drainage. SWAT2012 revisions 615 and 645 provide new tile drainage routines. However, few studies have used these revisions to study tile drainage impacts at both field and watershed scales. Moreover, SWAT2012 revision 645 improved the soil moisture based curve number calculation method, which has not been fully tested. This study used long-term (1991–2003) field site and river station data from the Little Vermilion River (LVR) watershed to evaluate performance of tile drainage routines in SWAT2009 revision 528 (the old routine) and SWAT2012 revisions 615 and 645 (the new routine). Both the old and new routines provided reasonable but unsatisfactory (NSE  <  0.5) uncalibrated flow and nitrate loss results for a mildly sloped watershed with low runoff. The calibrated monthly tile flow, surface flow, nitrate-N in tile and surface flow, sediment and annual corn and soybean yield results from SWAT with the old and new tile drainage routines were compared with observed values. Generally, the new routine provided acceptable simulated tile flow (NSE  =  0.48–0.65) and nitrate in tile flow (NSE  =  0.48–0.68) for field sites with random pattern tile and constant tile spacing, while the old routine simulated tile flow and nitrate in tile flow results for the field site with constant tile spacing were unacceptable (NSE  =  0.00–0.32 and −0.29–0.06, respectively). The new modified curve number calculation method in revision 645 (NSE  =  0.50–0.81) better simulated surface runoff than revision 615 (NSE  =  −0.11–0.49). The calibration provided reasonable parameter sets for the old and new routines in the LVR watershed, and the validation results showed that the new routine has the potential to accurately simulate hydrologic processes in mildly sloped watersheds.

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