Agronomy Water Quality Research Facilities

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Experimental Drainage Project (SEPAC)
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  The Experimental Drainage Field at the SEPAC facility was initiated in 1983 by researchers in Purdue's Departments of Agronomy and Agricultural & Biological Engineering.

  The objective of the research on theses plots is to quantify pesticide and nutrient movement into tile drainage water from a silt loam soil managed under typical agricultural practices.

  The 15-acre facility includes six individually tiled and instrumented plots at three spacing intervals. These plots are large enough for a tractor with standard equipment to do standard management practices. Each plot is an isolated sample collection area with automatic surface or subsurface samplers controlled by flowmeters.

  With knowledge gained from this research, the impact of management strategies on tile-transported agricultural chemicals under typical southern Indiana soils may be evaluated.

The site is 6.2 ha (15 acres) and supports two replications of tile spacing plots at 5-, 10-, 20-, and 40-meter spacing, with 0.75 m nominal tile depth and 0.4 % slope. Huts contain flowmeters and sampling equipment.

With a length of 225 meters (740 ft) and a width of at least 5 meters (16 to 66 ft) the plots are large enough for a tractor with standard equipment to do standard management practices. These plots were under continuous corn for ten years and are now under corn-soybean rotation.

The tiles under the 5-, 10-, and 20- meter plots are connected to tipping bucket flow gauges. The gauges connect to a computer, which acts as a datalogger and also triggers an automatic sampler after a preset amount of flow.
Drain tiles were established on the margin of each plot, so that each plot is an isolated sample collection area with automatic surface and/or subsurface samplers controlled by flowmeters. The tiles allow measuring, monitoring, and subsurface sampling as rainfall on the plot flows through the soil. The volume of water and concentration of transported chemicals can be determined for each plot as frequently as desired.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Detailed data are collected each year, including soil properties, weather data, and water percolation.

  Collected samples are analyzed for nutrients, tracer compounds, and pesticides. During the cropping season investigators install neutron-probe access tubes, tensiometers, monitoring wells, and surface runoff collection devices.

Leaching behavior of nutrients and pesticides are studied on the 5-,10- and 20-meter spacing. Tracer studies (bromide, chloride, and simazine) have been conducted using soil and tilewater extraction.

Modeling studies have been performed using GLEAMS (on nutrients and pesticides) and other techniques such as finite element and transfer function.
 Investigators have also studied transport of chemicals by detached sediment in the surface runoff of intense rainstorms.

 

For publications on this research, click here.

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Last update: 2/17/04