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WMAO – Ohio WRC Spring Luncheon Seminar
April 15, 2020 @ 8:00 am - 9:00 am
Water Luncheon Seminar Online Webinar:
Hosted by Water Management Association of Ohio and Ohio Water Resources Center
Locating Elevated Phosphorus Fields Through a Public Private Partnership to Track Impacts of Best Management Practices
Presented by Dr. Michael Brooker and Dr. Jay Martin, Ohio State University, Food, Agricultural, and Biological Engineering
Agricultural production can lead to significant nutrient loss that diminishes surface water quality. This is especially relevant in the western Lake Erie basin, where agricultural nutrient runoff drives the severity of annual harmful algal blooms. Within this basin, the Maumee watershed is dominated by agriculture and is a major source of phosphorus contributing to algal blooms. Water quality targets aim for a 40% reduction of both Total and Dissolved Reactive Phosphorus (TP/DRP) loads by the year 2025. Models have shown that reaching DRP targets is especially challenging but progress may be accelerated by targeting Best Management Practices to fields contributing the greatest DRP loads. Because fields with excess phosphorus in the soils have been linked to increased nutrient loadings, our project is aimed at finding these fields so that management practices can be installed and monitored. Approximately 5% (~200,000 acres) of agricultural soils in the Maumee watershed have elevated phosphorus concentrations, beyond 2.5 times agronomic recommendations. The proprietary nature of soil testing data has made it challenging to find and evaluate practices on these fields. To overcome this barrier, we partnered with crop consultants and producers in a public-private partnership. This partnership has allowed us to find farmers willing to participate in our study and we are in the process of designing and monitoring management practices. This presentation will describe our process in finding elevated phosphorus fields, early insights, and how public-private partnerships can function to improve water quality.
For more information and to register, click here.