2. Drainage Water Management: A Practice for Reducing Nitrate Loads from Subsurface Drainage Systems

Abstract.This article presents the development of a drainage-climate interface that incorporates climatological data, crop drainage requirements, and drainage theory into a procedure for characterizing drainage system response under different climate scenarios. The drainage-climate interface is suitable for assessing potential county-level impacts of climate change on crop production, soil hydrology and subsequently on subsurface drainage design. Climate model projections from two general circulation models (GCMs), namely CCSM4 (Community Climate System Model) and MIROC5 (Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate), were used to create the climatological database for the drainage-climate interface. DRAINMOD was integrated into the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) portion of the interface to simulate the performance of subsurface drainage systems in Illinois for the near future (2040 to 2069) and the far future (2070 to 2099) periods. Case studies were developed with the interface for Adams and Champaign Counties in Illinois for their predominant soil types. Hydrologic simulations from the interface were used to determine the optimal depth and spacing of tile drains that maximize crop yield for corn and soybean during the mid and late 21st century. Drainage water management (DWM) was incorporated into the drainage-climate interface to investigate the potential of DWM in the future climate scenarios to maintain water quality, reduce nutrient losses and minimize pollutant loading from drained fields by controlling the timing and amount of water discharged from agricultural drainage systems. Results from DRAINMOD simulations with MIROC5 show a significant decline in crop yield due to extreme heat stress. Corn yield in the future showed a severe reduction while the yield for soybean demonstrated a gradual decline over the years. DWM had only a minimal effect on future crop yield trends. The drainage-climate interface simulated subsurface drainage conditions and made evident the consequences of environmental conditions on crop physiological processes under scenarios of climate change predicted by MIROC5. Keywords: Agricultural system models, Climate change impacts, Drainage-climate interface, Drainage water management, Subsurface drainage, Tile drain depth, Tile drain spacing.

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Subsurface Drainage Water Management

10.31274/farmprogressreports-180814-1898 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Greg Brenneman ◽

Matthew J. Helmers

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Drainage Water ◽

Drainage Water Management

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Subsurface drainage volume reduction with drainage water management: Case studies in Ohio, USA

Agricultural Water Management ◽

10.1016/j.agwat.2014.10.014 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 149 ◽

pp. 131-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Kpoti M. Gunn ◽

Norman R. Fausey ◽

Yuhui Shang ◽

Vinayak S. Shedekar ◽

Ehsan Ghane ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Management ◽

Case Studies ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Drainage Water ◽

Volume Reduction ◽

Drainage Volume ◽

Drainage Water Management

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Effects of Subsurface Drainage Systems on Water and Nitrogen Footprints Simulated with RZWQM2

Transactions of the ASABE ◽

10.13031/trans.12300 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 61 (1) ◽

pp. 245-261 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Kristina J. Craft ◽

Matthew J. Helmers ◽

Robert W. Malone ◽

Carl H. Pederson ◽

Linda R. Schott

Keyword(s):

Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Field Data ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Drainage Water ◽

N Loss ◽

Drainage Systems ◽

Northern Gulf Of Mexico ◽

Drainage Water Management ◽

N Loading

Abstract. Developing drainage water management (DWM) systems in the Midwest to reduce nitrogen (N) transport to the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone requires understanding of the long-term performance of these systems. Few studies have evaluated long-term impacts of DWM, and the simulation of controlled drainage (CD) with the Root Zone Water Quality Model (RZWQM) is limited, while shallow drainage (SD) has not been examined. We tested RZWQM using nine years (2007-2015) of field data from southeast Iowa for CD, SD, conventional drainage (DD), and undrained (ND) systems and simulated the long-term (1971-2015) impacts. RZWQM accurately simulated N loss in subsurface drainage, and the simulations agreed with field data that CD and SD substantially reduced N loss to drainage. As indicated by the field data, the SD N concentration was predicted to be greater than DD and CD, likely due to reduced time of travel to shallower drains. The long-term simulations show that CD and SD reduced annual N lost via tile drainage by 26% and 40%, respectively. Annual reductions in N lost via tile drainage ranged from 28% in the driest years to 22% in the wettest years for CD and from 56% in the driest years to 35% in the wettest years for SD. Considering spring N loading for the purpose of addressing hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico, CD was found to be less effective than SD, and in many years CD exported more N in the spring than DD. Spring N loading (April through June) was indicated by the EPA Science Advisory Board to have the greatest impact on hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Therefore, improvement of CD systems within the months of April through June to reduce N loss via drainage across the upper Midwest landscape may be required. Limited research in the upper Midwest has addressed spring N loading under controlled drainage systems (CD). This research will help model developers, model users, and agricultural scientists more clearly understand N transport under different systems, including CD, SD, and ND, which will aid in developing the design and management of drainage systems to reduce N transport from tile-drained agriculture to surface waters. Keywords: Agricultural simulation model, Drainage water management, Nonpoint-source pollution, Northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone, Nutrient reduction, Subsurface drainage.

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