scholarly journals The BMP Consensus Challenge

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-389
Author(s):  
Thomas H. Yeager
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Water Movement ◽  
Research Information ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Container Nursery

The nursery industry in Broward County, Fla., had to choose between partaking in the resolution needed to achieve 10 ppb total phosphorus discharged to the Everglades or face regulation. The industry decided to pursue the proactive route and implement best management practices (BMPs). Teams of industry personnel were formed to develop the content of the Florida Container Nursery BMP Guide that contained the following chapters: 1) nursery layout, 2) container substrate and planting practices, 3) fertilization management, 4) container substrate nutrient monitoring, 5) irrigation water quality, 6) irrigation application, 7) irrigation uniformity, 8) erosion control and runoff water management, 9) pesticide management, and 10) waste management. Each team was to determine the content of their chapter, based on cultural practices producers were currently using, or could be using, which would minimize or reduce surface water movement of phosphorus from the nursery to adjacent water. Cultural practices, brought forth after a consensus was achieved by each team in concert with governmental agencies, associations, and allied industries, were meshed with research information, or the “best” information available from academic sources to ensure that the resolutions or BMPs that were written would contribute to resolving the confl ict (i.e., elevated total phosphorus in canal waters). Consensus development is a new challenge for most academicians but it is important because unbiased and science-based knowledge is needed to assist in BMP development. Furthermore, consensus of those directly and indirectly involved in the nursery industry helps facilitate the use of BMPs. Once the Florida Container Nursery BMP Guide is adopted by rule under the statutory authority of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, nursery operators voluntarily using the BMPs and keeping appropriate records will receive a waiver of liability from cleanup costs associated with contaminated ground or surface water, and be presumed to be in compliance with state water quality standards.

A Survey of Nursery Water Quality Best Management Practices

HortScience ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 501e-502
Author(s):  
Cody J. White ◽  
Michael A. Schnelle ◽  
Gerrit W. Cuperus
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Plant Materials ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Employee Safety ◽  
Current Water ◽  
Management Approaches ◽  
Environmentally Sound

A survey was designed to assess high-risk areas with respect to environmental contamination, specifically how it relates to water quality. Oklahoma growers of all economic levels, retail and/or wholesale, were queried at their place of business for their current state of implementing best management practices (BMPs) and other strategic actions that could potentially affect current and future water quality standards. Specific areas such as the physical environment of the nursery, primary pesticides and fertilizers used, Integrated Pest Management (IPM) practices, and employee safety training were covered as well as other aspects germane to preserving and protecting current water quality and related environmental issues. More than 75 nurseries were surveyed and given the opportunity to participate in future training at Oklahoma State Univ. Results indicated that nurseries have not fully implemented many BMPs, but have adopted fundamental IPM approaches. The stage is set for the implementation of the next phase of expansion and refinement into ecologically based programs such as propagation and sale of low pesticide input plant materials, improved cultural practices, and the integration of environmentally sound management approaches. As an example, many growers are in the process of phasing out calendar-based pesticide application programs in favor of aesthetic and/or economic threshold-driven pesticide spray programs.

Agricultural best management practices and surface water improvement and management

1995 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 109-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Anderson ◽  
E. G. Flaig
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Agricultural Runoff ◽  
South Florida ◽  
Lake Okeechobee ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Management Plans

Restoration and enhancement of Lake Okeechobee and the Florida Everglades requires a comprehensive approach to manage agricultural runoff. The Florida Surface Water Improvement and Management (SWIM) Act of 1987 was promulgated to develop and implement plans for protecting Florida waters. The South Florida Water Management District was directed by Florida legislature to develop management plans for Lake Okeechobee (SWIM) and the Everglades ecosystem (Marjory Stoneman Douglas Everglades Protection Act of 1991). These plans require agriculture to implement best management practices (BMPs) to reduce runoff phosphorus (P) loads. The Lake Okeechobee SWIM plan established a P load reduction target for Lake Okeechobee and set P concentration limitations for runoff from non-point source agricultural sources. Agricultural water users in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) are required to develop farm management plans to reduce P loads from the basin by 25%. The Everglades Forever Act of 1994 additionally emphasized linkage of these landscapes and consequent protection and restoration of the Everglades. Agricultural BMPs are being developed and implemented to comply with water management, environmental, and regulatory standards. Although BMPs are improving runoff water quality, additional research is necessary to obtain the best combination of BMPs for individual farms. This paper summarizes the development of comprehensive water management in south Florida and the agricultural BMPs carried out to meet regulatory requirements for Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF AGRICHEMICAL FACILITY BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON RUNOFF WATER QUALITY

2001 ◽  
Vol 44 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Shukla ◽  
S. Mostaghimi ◽  
S. B. Lovern ◽  
P. W. McClellan
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Runoff Water ◽  
Best Management

scholarly journals Effectiveness of Best Management Practices to Reduce Phosphorus Loading to a Highly Eutrophic Lake

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 2111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan D. Steinman ◽  
Michael Hassett ◽  
Maggie Oudsema
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Total Phosphorus ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
Phosphorus Loading ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Significant Difference

Reducing nonpoint source pollution is an ongoing challenge in watersheds throughout the world. Implementation of best management practices, both structural and nonstructural, is the usual response to this challenge, with the presumption that they are effective. However, monitoring of their efficacy is not a standard practice. In this study, we evaluate the effectiveness of two wetland restoration projects, designed to handle runoff during high flow events and serve as flow-through retention basins before returning flow further downstream. The Macatawa Watershed is located in west Michigan, is heavily agricultural, and drains into Lake Macatawa, a hypereutrophic lake with total phosphorus concentrations usually exceeding 100 µg/L. We measured turbidity, total phosphorus, and soluble reactive phosphorus both upstream and downstream of these wetland complexes during base flow and storm events. While both turbidity and phosphorus increased significantly during storm events compared to baseflow, we found no significant difference in upstream vs. downstream water quality two years following BMP construction. We also measured water quality in Lake Macatawa, and found the lake remained highly impaired. Possible reasons for the lack of improved water quality: (1) The restored wetlands are too young to function optimally in sediment and phosphorus retention; (2) the scale of these BMPs is too small given the overall loads; (3) the locations of these BMPs are not optimal in terms of pollutant reduction; and (4) the years following postconstruction were relatively dry so the wetlands had limited opportunity to retain pollutants. These possibilities are evaluated.

scholarly journals (215) From Recommendation to Implementation: Involving Vegetable Growers in Best Management Practices

HortScience ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 1072D-1073
Author(s):  
Eric Simonne ◽  
David Studstill ◽  
Robert Hochmuth ◽  
Justin Jones ◽  
Cynthia Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Water Movement ◽  
Root Zone ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Irrigation Management ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Adoption Process ◽  
Vegetable Crops

The Federal Clear Water Act and Florida legislation have mandated the clean-up of impaired water bodies. The BMP manual for vegetable crops lists the cultural practices that could maintain productivity while minimizing environmental impact. BMPs focus on increased fertilizer and irrigation efficiency, but growers must be involved in the demonstration and adoption process if this voluntary program is to be successful. Three commercial vegetable fields from farms recognized as leaders in fertilizer and irrigation management were selected to demonstrate how irrigation and fertilizer management are linked together and how management may prevent water movement below the root zone of melons grown with plasticulture. In Spring 2004, dye (Brilliant blue FCF) was injected into the irrigation water three times during the growing season and soil profiles were dug to determine the depth of dye movement. Similar results were found at all three locations as the dye moved below at an average rate of 1.9 to 3.6 cm per day. Water movement was greater early in the season as irrigation was applied for transplant establishment. These results suggest that some leaching is likely to occur on light-textured soils, even when sophisticated irrigation and fertilization practices are followed. Based on these observations, cooperators spontaneously proposed to use two drip tapes, reduce preplant fertilizer, use a 100% injected N/K program, and/or add organic matter to the soil as attempts to slow water movement below the root zone of their crops. This project shows that growers are more likely to try and adopt sustainable practices when they actively participate in the educational process than when production changes are mandated through legislation.

scholarly journals Florida Nursery Best Management Practices: Past, Present, and Future

2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Yeager ◽  
Jeff Million ◽  
Claudia Larsen ◽  
Bob Stamps
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Surface Water Quality ◽  
The State ◽  
Fertilizer Use ◽  
Best Management ◽  
Quality Issues ◽  
Container Nurseries

Florida container nurseries face the challenge of maintaining profitability while protecting the environment by improving the efficiency of water and fertilizer use. Best management practices (BMPs) provide irrigation and fertilization guidelines for meeting this challenge. BMPs are economically and technologically feasible to implement and they focus on the ground- and surface water quality issues of the state. However, increasing nursery participation in the statewide BMP program is crucial as the industry continues to expand and interface with urbanization.

Stimulating implementation of best management practices to reduce pesticide loads to surface water in a small agricultural catchment

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet Seuntjens ◽  
Ellen Pauwelyn ◽  
Els Belmans ◽  
Ingeborg Joris ◽  
Elien Dupon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Drinking Water ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Best Management Practices ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Physical Analysis ◽  
Best Management ◽  
The Impact

<p>High-quality, safe, and sufficient drinking water is essential for life: we use it for drinking, food preparation and cleaning. Agriculture is the biggest source of pesticides and nitrate pollution in European fresh waters. Pesticide occurrences in rivers result from diffuse runoff from farmland or from point sources from the farmyard. Although many best management practices (BMPs) to mitigate these diffuse and point sources are developed and widely disseminated for several years, the effective implementation of mitigation measures in practice remains limited. Therefore, the Waterprotect project has been set up to improve the knowledge and awareness of the impact of crop protection products on the water quality among the many actors, to identify the bottlenecks for implementation of suitable BMPs and further develop new governance strategies to overcome these issues for a more effective drinking water protection. As all actors share the responsibility to deal with the water quality, government agencies (e.g. environmental agencies), private actors (e.g. drinking water company, input supplier, processing industry) and civil society actors (e.g. farmers) are involved in the project. Processes to cope with the problem are initiated in 7 action labs among which the Belgian Bollaertbeek action lab. The study area is a small agricultural catchment where surface water is used as intake to produce drinking water for the nearby city. The area is sensitive to erosion and based on a physical analysis and risk analysis of the catchment, the implementation of filling and cleaning places on individual farms and buffer strips along the watercourse are proposed as suitable measures to tackle the pollution problem. In order to implement them, mechanisms to increase the involvement of targeted farmers and alternative governance systems are studied. Results of the analysis of the water quality issues and the water governance system in the Belgian Bollaertbeek action lab and the strategies to try to improve the uptake of mitigation measures to improve water quality will be presented.</p>

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