Organizations team up to tackle phosphorous
Chatham-Kent farm home to project analyzing soil run-off and testing water
A new way of preventing CHATHAM phosphorous from running off of farm fields into bodies of water is being tested on a Chatham-Kent farm and the project will also collect data to determine if current practices are working.
The pilot project is from the Thames River Phosphorous Reduction Collaborative, which includes Mayor Randy Hope and members from organizations like the Kent Federation of Agriculture and the Lower Thames Valley Conservation Authority.
It is installed on Louis Roesch’s farm in Kent Bridge and will assess water from 25 acres of seed corn. Colin Little, agricultural program coordinator with the LTVCA, said the system works by taking water from the farm’s drainage system into a holding tank. The water then comes in contact with technology which can lock phosphorous and is discharged into a tile drain. The water, which is potentially free of phosphorous, then passes into the Thames River to Lake St. Clair to the Detroit River and finally at the western basin of Lake Erie, he said.
“The point is at the end of the day the system is all connected to the greater Lake Erie basin,” said Little. “That is, ideally, what we’ll find out, if it’s contributing to a reduction in phosphorous.”
The project also tests the water twice — before it interacts with the phosphorous reduction technology and after — to see how effective the system is in achieving its goal, he said.
Little said they will be looking at whether they can capture a meaningful amount of phosphorous and what the samples show during a major weather event. During those events, the water will flow into a second tank to interact with filters to possibly capture more phosphorous, he said.
He said testing the water before it enters the system will also provide local data on farm management practices. The plan is to have three other systems installed on farms in Chatham-Kent and one on a municipal pumping station. “This will help us determine, OK, what’s going on in our region?” he said. “What works effectively with our soils and management systems and what opportunities are there for technology and potentially filter projects to help us meet our reduction targets.”
A bi-national agreement between Canada and the U.S. has set a goal to reduce phosphorous entering Lake Erie by 40 per cent from 2008 levels by 2025. Mayor Hope said he thinks the project will address “myths” about agriculture’s role in algal blooms. “We’re not going to point fingers at one another. We’re going to be project-based. We’re going to be fact-based,” he said.
“We all know that there are management practices that are going on, the technology they use dealing with their agricultural projects, how much you’re putting fertilizer on is very controlled and done very well.”
I’m about as dirty as they get when you talk about phosphorous getting away. I stuck my neck out and said, ‘Let’s do a project here.’
An assessment released in February by the International Joint Commission using existing data found commercial fertilizer and manure applications “are the largest sources of excess phosphorus into the western basin of Lake Erie.” Hope said he thinks other issues are at play, such as sediments built up at the bottom of the Thames which are pushed at high speeds during major rain events. “They’re scientists and I’m going to sit there and I could probably tell you that legacy issues are probably more haunting of us today than agricultural practices are today,” he said.
Roesch said his soil is very high in phosphorous and he is willing to see if his practices are working to keep it from entering water systems. “I also spread manure,” he said. “I’m about as dirty as they get when you talk about phosphorous getting away. I stuck my neck out and said, ‘Let’s do a project here.’” Little said some data has already been collected, but it is too soon to make any conclusions. He said they will be most concerned with the period between December and May “when there are no crops in the field and the soil is susceptible to erosion or environmental conditions.”
The testing is expected to go on for three years.