**-  Midwest  
-  West Lafayette, IN 
-  National Soil Erosion Research Lab 
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**Location: National Soil Erosion Research Lab**
**2007 Annual Report**
**1a.Objectives (from AD-416)**													Research is planned to address the following objectives and specific sub-objectives..1)Measure and quantify water quality, water quantity, and soil quality effects of BMPs and conservation practices at the field, farm, and sub-watershed scale for the St. Joseph River Watershed (SJRW). Specifically to: 1a) evaluate the impact of conservation practices applied on agricultural land (e.g. Core 4, water table management, soil amendments, point source/structural filters, etc.) on source water quantity and chemistry and in stream and riparian ecosystems; 1b) Quantify the influence of land use (i.e. urban and agricultural), land conversion, and the use of industrial by-products (including FGD-gypsum and foundry sand) on surface and drainage water quantity and quality and soil quality; and 1c) determine the impact of conservation management practices on soil quality..2)Develop and validate watershed models and quantify the uncertainties of model predictions at field, farm, and watershed scales for the St Joseph River and other appropriate watersheds.  Specifically to: 2a) parameterize, calibrate, and verify watershed scale models (i.e. SWAT and AnnAGNPS) and use them to evaluate conservation and land management practices for source water protection in the SJRW; and 2b) determine the sensitivity of watershed response variables to the spatial and temporal placement of conservation practices within the SJRW. .3)Develop and apply policy-planning tools to aid selection and placement of conservation practices to optimize profit, water quality, and conservation practice efficiency.  Specifically to: 3a) assess the benefits and costs of implementing conservation practices at the whole farm and sub-watershed scale; and 3b) determine the optimal selection and placement of conservation practices in the watershed scale..4) Develop and implement a data system to organize, document, manipulate, and compile water, soil, management, and socio-economic data for assessment of conservation practices at field, farm, and watershed scales for the St. Joseph River and other appropriate watersheds.  Specifically to:  4a) develop standardized procedures for basic data compilation; and 4b) develop prototype data system.						
**1b.Approach  (from AD-416)**													The research will be conducted in the St. Joseph River Watershed at NE Indiana using a before-after-control-impact (BACI) paired watershed design.  There are a total of 12 sampling sites, including two fields, two surface depressions, three medium watersheds, three large watersheds, one extra-large watershed and one at the sub-basin scale (~19,000 ha) at Cedar Creek.  Flows at these sites will be monitored and water samples analyzed for nutrients and pesticides.   There are five weather stations co-located with water quality monitoring stations to provide weather and soil moisture data.  Indicators of aquatic ecosystem health and soil quality will be evaluated.   Conservation practices will be mapped through the help of the local NRCS, SWCD, and St. Joseph River Watershed Initiative working collaboratively with farmers in the watershed.  Results of monitored water quality data will be analyzed to identify most effective management practices and to parameterize, calibrate, and validate the SWAT and AnnAGNPS models.   Benefits and costs of implementing conservation practices at the whole farm and sub-watershed scale will be assessed and optimal selection and placement of conservation practices in the watershed scale will be analyzed using water quality and economic models.						
**3.Progress Report**													Monitoring of water quality at twelve sites within the Cedar Creek subwatershed was continued in FY07.  A complete array of meteorological and soil sensors were installed at the AS2 field runoff site.  A public interface was completed for presentation of hydrology data from all twelve sites, and soils and meterological data from six of the sites.  Additionally, the web-site for this data has been modified based on farmer input, to include information on growing degree days and rainfall during the previous seven days.  During FY07, the most complete dataset on hydrology in the watershed was completed and used to establish discharge rating curves for the eight ditch or creek sites.  Completion of this task allows us to estimate loads better than we have been able to previously.  
Work on our in-house database has been completed.  The complete dataset including: hydrology, meteorology, soil moisture, soil salinity, soil temperature, and water quality (pesticides, soluble and total nutrients, and carbon) was completed.  In April 2007, the NSERL database team completed training for the national CEAP projects STEWARDS database.  We have recently submitted hydrology, meteorological, soils and metadata to the STEWARDS database.
In June 2007, rainfall simulations occurred in the watershed to assess the impact of amending soils with industrial byproducts (gypsum and foundry sand) on hydrology and water quality.  Water quality data from this project are currently being analyzed and evaluated.
Initial comparisons of SWAT and AnnAGNPS models were performed, and results submitted to the Journal of Soil and Water Conservation.
Six scientists and two support scientists attended the SWCS/CEAP meeting in July, and ten presentations on CEAP related work.
A meeting was held in late August with the Soil Drainage Research Unit to compare and coordinate water quality monitoring and modeling efforts for the Source Water Protection Initiative (SWPI).						
**4.Accomplishments**													Observed Pesticide MCL Exceedance Depends on Sampling StrategyDrinking water treatment plants are required to sample intake water and analyze for potential contaminants.  Maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) have been established for many pesticides.  Work at the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory has taken data from our daily water quality samples and evaluated how different sampling strategies (i.e. daily, weekly or quarterly sampling) may impact the reporting of MCL exceedance.  From this work, we observed that as the sampling strategy becomes less intense, the error associated with MCL exceedance estimates increases.  We also discovered that drinking water treatment plants may be able to avoid MCL exceedance if they schedule their sampling around times when pesticides are expected to be in the water, and also avoid sampling when storm runoff water is contributing to the flow.  The impact of this research is to demonstrate to regulators that in order to accurately reflect MCL exceedance estimates, water quality samples for drinking water systems should include samples from when potential contaminants (i.e. pesticides) are expected to be in the water and/or at least one sample taken during times when storm runoff contributes to flow. This accomplishment addresses NP201 Component 6 Water Quality Protection Systems Problem Statement - ARS has been asked to help provide information in this area under three broad themes; (1) better understanding and prediction of source, fate, and transport of constituent loads.
Conducted Water Quality Modeling in Large-Scale Watershed for CEAP Study For watershed models to be useful in assessing water quality in different cropping and management systems, as well as their use in decision support systems, it is critical that the model be properly calibrated and validated. The Soil Water and Assessment Tool (SWAT) was successfully calibrated and validated for modeling stream flow and atrazine concentrations in the Cedar Creek Watershed (CCW) in Indiana. The scope of this modeling research, in terms of calibration and validation procedures, is necessary for further use of SWAT as an assessment tool in evaluating the long-term effects of different management practices on chemical transport in large, tile-drained agricultural watersheds in the U.S. Midwest region. Additional investigations have addressed the use of different combinations of soil and land use geospatial datasets and watershed scale and the effects on stream flow estimates using SWAT, a significant area of research lacking study.  The results are significant in that Cedar Creek is the main tributary to the St. Joseph River, the source water supply for Ft. Wayne, Indiana where concentrations of atrazine and other agricultural pollutants have been a concern. Thus, with the successful calibration and validation of SWAT in the CCW, the model may now be used to assess the impacts of management practices on soil and water quality.  This accomplishment addresses NP201 Component 1 Effectiveness of Conservation Practices Problem Statement - to develop technologies for detailed assessments of conservation programs at a watershed scale, validate and improve models used to analyze relevant physical and chemical process, and support coordinated research on the effects of conservation practices across a range of resource characteristics (such as climate, terrain, land use, and soils).
Ditch Recovery from DredgingPrevious research demonstrated that immediately following dredging, the risks associated with nutrient and pesticide transport were increased.  In a study of water quality samples for one year after dredging occurred, the National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory observed the uptake of soluble and total phosphorus (P) from the stream column.  There was a decrease of more than 12 kg of soluble P, and 5 kg of total P when comparing nutrient mass losses for a site draining approximately 1,400 ha to one that drains about 300 ha.  There were many reasons for this, including revegetation of the ditch, deposition of fresh sediments, recolonization of the ditch bottom by benthic fauna, and the year after dredging was very dry compared to other years.  The impact of this research is to demonstrate to resource managers that dredging activities are not as degrading to water quality over a long period as once feared.  This accomplishment addresses NP201 Component 6 Water Quality Protection Systems Problem Statement - ARS has been asked to help provide information in this area under the broad themes: better understanding and prediction of source, fate, and transport of constituent loads.						
**5.Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations**													None.						
**6.Technology Transfer**Number of web sites managed1Number of non-peer reviewed presentations and proceedings15**Review Publications***Larose, M., Heathman, G.C., Norton, L.D., Engel, B. 2007. Hydrologic and atrazine simulation in the Cedar Creek Watershed using the SWAT model. Journal of Environmental Quality. 36:521-531.**Warnemuende, E.A., Smith, D.R. 2007. Effect of dredging agricultural drainage ditches on herbicide transport in the Midwestern United States. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 62(4):262-268.**Smith, D.R., Pappas, E.A. 2007. Effect of ditch dredging on the fate of nutrients in deep drainage ditches of the Midwestern United States. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation. 62(4):258-261.*    Project TeamSmith, Douglas  - *Doug*Pappas, Elizabeth  - *Betsy*Heathman, Gary Norton, Lloyd  - *Darrell*Huang, Chi Hua  
Project Annual Reports FY 2009 FY 2008 FY 2007 Publications  Publications 
Related National Programs Water Availability and Water Management(211) Related Projects  Ecological Assessment of Habitat and Aquatic Life in Cedar Creek in Support of the Conservation Effects Assessment Program  Drainage Water Management in the St. Joseph River Watershed  							Last Modified: 03/24/2010 		ARS Home |USDA.gov |Site Map |Policies and Links FOIA |Accessibility Statement |Privacy Policy |Nondiscrimination Statement |Information Quality |USA.gov |White House

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