Modeling Tile Drainage Outflow in Thin Agricultural Soils with Impermeable under Layer in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Subsurface tile drainage installation helps to maintain water table levels and to meet adequate crop moisture requirements. Artificial subsurface drainage continues to be a common practice in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) and elsewhere around the world. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of DRAINMOD in simulating water table depth (WTD) and water outflow from tile drained agricultural fields. This site on the Avalon Peninsula of Eastern Newfoundland has a rolling landscape with predominantly Podzolic soils. The tile drainage was installed at 1.0 m deep and spaced 12 m apart. Drainage outflows (two per plot) from twelve experimental plots (32 m x 60 m each) were monitored for two years. The simulated WTD ranged from 140 cm to 160 cm during rainfall season. The performance of the model was evaluated by the Index of agreement (IOA). It was 0.600 in 2017 and 0.559 in 2018. The result was considered to have acceptable accuracy, which can help to design or evaluate subsurface drainage systems in NL, Canada. However, further evaluation including additional sites are necessary to ensure optimum drainage design parameters for the major agricultural soils.

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Calibration of DRAINMOD for prediction of water table depths and drain discharges under waterlogged Vertisols of Maharashtra, India

Journal of Applied and Natural Science ◽

10.31018/jans.v11i3.2142 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (3) ◽

pp. 724-731

Author(s):

Shrimant Rathod ◽

Sudhir Dahiwalkar ◽

Sunil Gorantiwar ◽

Mukund Shinde

Keyword(s):

Water Table ◽

Agricultural Research ◽

Drainage System ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Design System ◽

Research Station ◽

Drain Spacing ◽

Drainage Design ◽

Rainy Days

An estimation of optimal design parameters of subsurface drainage system through monitoring of water table depths and drain discharges are expensive in terms of time and money. The simulation modeling is an effective tool for estimation of drainage design parameters at less cost and short time. In view to this, calibration of DRAINMOD model for prediction of water table depths and drain discharges were conducted by installing subsurface drainage system with 40 m drain spacing and 1.0 m drain depth at Agricultural Research Station, Kasbe Digraj, Dist. Sangli (Maharashtra) during 2012-13 to 2013-14. The field data on water table depth and drain discharge were used for calibration of DRAINMOD model. The input data files on climatic, soil, crop and drainage design system parameters were attached to DRAINMOD model and calibrated successfully. It is found that both observed and simulated water table depths and drain discharges showed a fluctuating trend and predicted both water table depths and drain discharges closely with the observed values during frequent rainy days and following the rainy days. The DRAINMOD model reliably predicted water table depths with a goodness of fit (R2 = 0.97), MAE (12.23 cm), RMSE (15.49 cm) and CRM (0.05); drain discharges with R2 of 0.93, MAE of 0.095 mm day-1, RMSE of 0.1876 mm day-1and CRM of 0.04. Thus, the calibrated DRAINMOD model can be used to simulate the water table depths and drain discharges in semi-arid climatic conditions of Maharashtra and in turn to estimate and evaluate drain spacing and depth.

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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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Water Table Management Reduces Tile Nitrate Loss in Continuous Corn and in a Soybean-Corn Rotation

The Scientific World JOURNAL ◽

10.1100/tsw.2001.268 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 1 ◽

pp. 163-169 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Craig F. Drury ◽

Chin S. Tan ◽

John D. Gaynor ◽

John W. Daniel Reynolds ◽

Thomas W. Welacky ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Drinking Water ◽

Water Table ◽

Nitrate Concentration ◽

Tile Drainage ◽

N Fertilizer ◽

Phase 2 ◽

Nitrate Loss ◽

Continuous Corn ◽

Water Table Management ◽

Drinking Water Guideline

Water table management systems can be designed to alleviate soil water excesses and deficits, as well as reduce nitrate leaching losses in tile discharge. With this in mind, a standard tile drainage (DR) system was compared over 8 years (1991 to 1999) to a controlled tile drainage/subirrigation (CDS) system on a low-slope (0.05 to 0.1%) Brookston clay loam soil (Typic Argiaquoll) in southwestern Ontario, Canada. In the CDS system, tile discharge was controlled to prevent excessive drainage, and water was pumped back up the tile lines (subirrigation) to replenish the crop root zone during water deficit periods. In the first phase of the study (1991 to 1994), continuous corn (Zea mays, L.) was grown with annual nitrogen (N) fertilizer inputs as per local soil test recommendations. In the second phase (1995 to 1999), a soybean (Glycine max L., Merr.)-corn rotation was used with N fertilizer added only during the two corn years. In Phase 1 when continuous corn was grown, CDS reduced total tile discharge by 26% and total nitrate loss in tile discharge by 55%, compared to DR. In addition, the 4-year flow weighted mean (FWM) nitrate concentration in tile discharge exceeded the Canadian drinking water guideline (10 mg N l–1) under DR (11.4 mg N l–1), but not under CDS (7.0 mg N l–1). In Phase 2 during the soybean-corn rotation, CDS reduced total tile discharge by 38% and total nitrate loss in tile discharge by 66%, relative to DR. The 4-year FWM nitrate concentration during Phase 2 in tile discharge was below the drinking water guideline for both DR (7.3 mg N l–1) and CDS (4.0 mg N l–1). During both phases of the experiment, the CDS treatment caused only minor increases in nitrate loss in surface runoff relative to DR. Hence CDS decreased FWM nitrate concentrations, total drainage water loss, and total nitrate loss in tile discharge relative to DR. In addition, soybean-corn rotation reduced FWM nitrate concentrations and total nitrate loss in tile discharge relative to continuous corn. CDS and crop rotations with reduced N fertilizer inputs can thus improve the quality of tile discharge water substantially.

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Climate change and subsurface drainage design: results from a small field-scale catchment in south-western Norway

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica Section B - Soil & Plant Science ◽

10.1080/09064710.2014.975836 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 65 (sup1) ◽

pp. 58-65

Author(s):

Johannes Deelstra

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Small Field ◽

Field Scale ◽

Western Norway ◽

Drainage Design

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EVALUATING DRAINAGE DESIGN PARAMETERS FOR WASTEWATER IRRIGATION APPLICATIONS TO MINIMIZE IMPACT ON SURFACE WATERS

Applied Engineering in Agriculture ◽

10.13031/2013.5803 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 15 (5) ◽

pp. 449-455 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

T. Oztekin ◽

L. C. Brown ◽

P. M. Holdsworth ◽

A. Kurunc ◽

D. Rector

Keyword(s):

Surface Waters ◽

Wastewater Irrigation ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Drainage Design

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Performance Evaluation of Subsurface Drainage System with Reference to Water Table Response in Aduthurai, Tamil Nadu, India

Current Journal of Applied Science and Technology ◽

10.9734/cjast/2017/36558 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 24 (1) ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

M Punitha ◽

R Rajendran

Keyword(s):

Performance Evaluation ◽

Water Table ◽

Tamil Nadu ◽

Drainage System ◽

Subsurface Drainage

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Effects of Controlled Drainage on Water Table Recession Rate

Transactions of the ASABE ◽

10.13031/trans.11922 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 60 (3) ◽

pp. 813-821 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Samaneh Saadat ◽

Laura Bowling ◽

Jane Frankenberger ◽

Kyle Brooks

Keyword(s):

Water Table ◽

Subsurface Drainage ◽

Drainage Water ◽

Optimal Operation ◽

Rainfall Event ◽

Controlled Drainage ◽

Recession Rate ◽

Watershed Approach ◽

Recession Rates ◽

Paired Watershed

Abstract. Controlled drainage is a best management practice that decreases nitrate loads from subsurface drainage, but questions remain about optimal operation strategies. One unanswered question is whether the outlet should be lowered prior to or directly after a rainfall event to reduce the amount of time that the water table is at a level that would be detrimental to either trafficability or crop yield. The objective of this study was to determine how much controlled drainage lengthens the time needed for the water table to fall after a rainfall event, to inform possible improvement in the management of controlled drainage systems. This objective was addressed using water table recession rates from two pairs of controlled and free-draining fields located at the Davis Purdue Agricultural Center in Indiana over a period of nine years (2006-2014). At each pair, comparison of mean recession rates from the two fields indicated that controlled drainage reduced recession rate. The significance of the relationship between paired observations and the effect of controlled drainage was determined by a paired watershed approach using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and covariance (ANCOVA). Raising the outlet of the subsurface drainage system decreased the mean rate of water table recession by 29% to 62%, increasing the time needed for the water table level to fall from the surface to 30 and 60 cm depths by approximately 12 to 26 h and 24 to 53 h, respectively. Based on these results, it can be concluded that lowering the outlet before storm events would reduce the amount of time that the water table is at a detrimental level for either crop growth or trafficability. However, the trade-off between costs and benefits of active management depends on the sensitivity of the crop and probability of a severe storm. Keywords: Drainage water management, Managed drainage, Paired watershed approach, Tile drainage, Water table drawdown.

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Research on Red Sandstone Area Expressway Subgrade Drainage System Design

Applied Mechanics and Materials ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amm.505-506.49 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 505-506 ◽

pp. 49-52

Author(s):

Hua Zhao ◽

Mao Jin Lei ◽

Shui Gen Peng

Keyword(s):

Drainage System ◽

Design Parameters ◽

Jiangxi Province ◽

Longitudinal Gradient ◽

Design Elements ◽

Red Sandstone ◽

Structure Damage ◽

Drainage Design ◽

Current Specification ◽

The Relationship

Aimed at the feature of expressway subgrade drainage facilities in typical red sandstone areas in Jiangxi province and based on the importance of the structure, damage conditions, service requirements and the current specification requirements related to various types of ditches, the designed repetition period of rainfall and proposed safety depth values for drainage facilities were put forward by considering reasonably the key design parameters to regional drainage facilities. The relationship between prerequisite of discharging sediment in ditches or conduits and minimum longitudinal gradient was discussed. Combined with the characteristics of red sandstone subgrade drainage with high requirements, the design elements of red sandstone area expressway subgrade drainage system were obtained, which can provide beneficial references for the subgrade drainage design in red sandstone areas.

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