The UK College of Agriculture is constructing the UK Animal Research Center on karst terrain in Woodford County. Karst is terrain on which sinkholes and caves form, and ground water in karst areas can be polluted by contaminants from the surface. The Agricultural Water Quality Authority requires every farm in Kentucky to have a water-quality protection plan. To comply with this requirement, the Kentucky Geological Survey and the UK College of Agriculture are monitoring water quality at streams, springs, and wells on the property.
Collected data are readily available for teaching, research, planning, and construction purposes.
Studies are under way to determine movement and storage of water in the soil and karst aquifers for hydrologic modeling purposes. Since October 1996, nearly 1,200 water samples have been collected, resulting in more than 18,500 constituent analyses. Twelve sets of composite storm samples have been collected at seven stream sites by electronic sampling equipment since February 1, 2000. Weather data from the center's weather station and stage and flow data from six streams have been collected and archived, dating back to November 1994. Nitrate-nitrogen, pH, electrical conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen content, and turbidity have been continuously monitored at the center's principal pour point since January 1997.