Influence of agricultural drainage practices on groundwater recharge in the Upper Wabash River basin
Abstract
Much of the US Corn belt relies on subsurface drainage for agricultural productivity. These perforated pipes buried approximately one meter below the soil surface have been used to transform poorly drained soils into highly productive cropland by removing excess water from the crop root zone and improving soil trafficability. Despite drainage benefits, over the years nutrient rich drainflow has led to higher levels of nitrate in US water resources, as well as changes to regional hydrology. Adaptive water management such as controlled drainage allows the user to control the water table in drained fields by adjusting the height of the outlet to limit the subsurface flow and nitrate loss during the non-growing season. Although numerous field studies have verified the effectiveness of controlled drainage in reducing direct nitrate loading to ditches, the fate of reduced drain outflow is poorly quantified. There is a knowledge gap on how such water table management influences aquifer recharge. The Variable Infiltration Capacity model will be utilized to represent drainage and groundwater storage to understand the change in aquifer recharge in the Upper Wabash River Basin which will provide important piece in understanding surface-groundwater interactions in subsurface drained agricultural watersheds.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2022
- Bibcode:
- 2022AGUFM.H15K0928J