BREE 533 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Trifolium Repens, Trifolium Pratense, Biofilter

• School: McGill University
• Department: Bioresource Engineering
• Course: BREE 533
• Professor: Chandra A Madramootoo

Document Summary

Soil erosion and sediment loss decreases by 16-65% and phosphorous loss decreases to 45% while the nitrogen (nitrate) loss is found to increase. The nitrate concentration in drinking water is found to be more than the standard concentration in areas with drainage. So, we can say that nitrate-nitrogen pollution is closely related to subsurface drainage. Some water quality improvement approaches: wetlands (covered earlier, controlled drainage: controlled drainage systems are designed to release only the amount of water needed to provide an aerated crop root zone and ensure trafficable conditions for field operations. Generally, any drainage in excess of that amount is no longer available for crop uptake and is likely to carry away nitrate. Compared to conventional, unmanaged drainage, controlled drainage has been shown to significantly reduce the nitrate that flows to ditches and streams from tile drains. The drainage main lines are fitted with control structures to regulate the amount of water in field by regulating the drainage.