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How can your soil health be related to your health?
Audrey Eldridge, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, GWMA Mama
The story of a groundwater improvement project in Oregon’s Willamette Valley
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What is a GWMA?
A Groundwater Management Area is a tool used by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality to address a large scale groundwater contamination when the contaminants
originate from non-point sources.
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GWMA Process (in general)(1) Document contamination
(2) Declare a Groundwater Management Area (GWMA)
(3) Appoint an Advisory Committee
(4) Form an Action Plan
(5) Implement the Action Plan
(6) Rescind the GWMA declaration
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Nitrate refers to nitrate-N
mg/L ~ ppm
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Nitrate Standards The public drinking
water standard is 10 mg/L
“Action Level” for Oregon GWMA declaration is 7 mg/L
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Nitrate Health Concerns Blue baby syndrome Some research has
indicated an association with increased incidence of cancer in adults, incidence of brain tumors, leukemia
Spontaneous miscarriages
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In the SWV GWMA, the Land Use is
Predominately Agriculture
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Be recognizable to the general public, so they would know if they are “in”
Capture most of the high nitrate values seen in the earlier studies
The GWMA boundaries were also designed to
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SWV Groundwater Resource
Shallow (20-40 ft.) Unconfined In some areas, the shallow groundwater overlies a larger and deeper regional aquifer
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Nearly all of the GWMA Residents Rely on
Groundwater
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Where Are We Now? GWMA declared in 2004, and a
committee was appointed An Action Plan was finalized Dec
2006 and is being updated now! Outreach and implementation
continues
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Four Sources of Nitrate Analyzed
by the Nitrogen Budget Percentage Nitrogen Contribution by Source
90%
4% 6% 0%Crops
Septic Systems
CAFOs
Large WastewaterSystems
1,704 annual tons
74 annual tons
109 annual tons
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Sources of Nitrate Over the whole SWV-GWMA, fertilizer nitrogen
is the most likely source for the majority of nitrate in groundwater. Septic Systems cannot produce enough nitrate to
reach the concentrations observed (account for less then 2% of the total yearly addition of nitrogen to the valley).
CAFOs do not cover a large enough area of the GWMA.
Both CAFOs and Septic systems are potential hot spots of localized high nitrate.
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Agricultural in the SWV ~197 square miles (93
% of the area) Includes grains, hay and forage, seed crops, row crops, vegetables, fruits, and various specialty seed crops. Known as the “grass seed capitol of the world.”
Eight permitted Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs)
Small acreage agricultural landowners.
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Uptake ratios take into account
conditions and management
practices
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Nitrogen Potentially Lost Per Acre Depending on Utilization (conditions and management practices)
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2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 20120.00
30.00
60.00
ANNUAL TOTAL PRECIPITATION
AVERAGE YEARLY PRECIPITATION
PRECIPITATION AT THE EUGENE AIRPORTIN INCHES PER YEAR
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During precipitation, water infiltrates into the soil profile
Thanks to Dr. Maria Dragila
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After precipitation stops, water redistributes itself into Evaporation and Downward Gravitational Drainage
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Monitoring Groundwater Quality
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Long Term Measuring Overall Water Quality
DW = 14 domestic wells, generally deeper, used on a regular basis.
GW = 25 groundwater monitoring wells, generally shallower, purged only when sampled
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Long Term Measuring Overall Groundwater
Quality What is being measured pH Specific Conductance Temperature Dissolved Oxygen Nitrate Sulfate (every other event)
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Long Term Measuring Overall Groundwater
Quality
Sampling occurs every 3 months (quarterly)
pH, Specific Conductance, TemperatureDissolved Oxygen, Nitrate, Sulfate
28 Quarterly events completed, next one is due mid May 2013
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Monitoring Wells & Depth to Water
Monitoring well
__Land Surface_______________________________________
---------------------------
Depth to Water = 5 feet
Depth to Water 15 feet
Depth to bottom – usually 23 feet
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Aug-06
Nov-06
Feb-07
May-07
Aug-07
Nov-07
Feb-08
May-08
Aug-08
Nov-08
Feb-09
May-09
Aug-09
Nov-09
Feb-10
May-10
Aug-10
Nov-10
Feb-11
May-11
Aug-11
Nov-11
Feb-12
May-12
Aug-12
Nov-12
Feb-13
0
5
10
15
20
25
GW-12 Crook Road
Nitrate as N (mg/L)
GWMA Action Limit
Depth to Water (ft)
7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Aug-06
Nov-06
Feb-0
7
May-07
Aug-07
Nov-07
Feb-0
8
May-08
Aug-08
Nov-08
Feb-0
9
May-09
Aug-09
Nov-09
Feb-1
0
May-10
Aug-10
Nov-10
Feb-1
1
May-11
Aug-11
Nov-11
Feb-1
2
May-12
Aug-12
Nov-12
Feb-1
30
2
4
6
8
10
12
GW-10 Priceboro Road
Nitrate as N (mg/L)
GWMA Action Limit
Depth to Water (ft)
7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Aug-06 Feb-07 Aug-07 Feb-08 Aug-08 Feb-09 Aug-09 Feb-10 Aug-10 Feb-11 Aug-11 Feb-12 Aug-12 Feb-130
5
10
15
20
25
GW-20 Hubbard Road and DW -17
GWMA Ac-tion Limit
DW-17 Ni-trate as N (mg/L)
GW-20 Ni-trate as N (mg/L)
7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Aug-06 Feb-07 Aug-07 Feb-08 Aug-08 Feb-09 Aug-09 Feb-10 Aug-10 Feb-11 Aug-11 Feb-12 Aug-12 Feb-130
5
10
15
20
25
GW-20 Hubbard Road and DW -17
GWMA Action Limit
DW-17 Nitrate as N (mg/L)
GW-20 Nitrate as N (mg/L)
Linear (GW-20 Nitrate as N (mg/L))
7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Groundwater or Surface Water? Over the years, there seems to be
some water results from select wells that indicate we are seeing more surface-water influence than groundwater influence.
Wells GW-17 and sometimes GW-5 are good examples of this phenomena
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Aug-06
Feb-07
Aug-07
Feb-08
Aug-08
Feb-09
Aug-09
Feb-10
Aug-10
Feb-11
Aug-11
Feb-12
Aug-12
Feb-13
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
GW-5 Hayes and Zumwalt Nitrate and Sulfate in
mg/LNitrate as N (mg/L)
GWMA Action Limit
Linear (GWMA Action Limit)
Depth to Water (ft)7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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GW-5 Groundwater or Surface
Water? All high nitrate-N values in Feb or May All nitrate-N values <1.5 mg/L in Aug or Nov Lowest conductivity in Aug and Nov Watertable lowest in Aug and Nov If this well is river water influenced – one might think the nitrate would be lowest when the river stage is the highest(Feb) & the DTW is the lowest (Feb and May)
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Aug-06
Feb-07
Aug-07
Feb-08
Aug-08
Feb-09
Aug-09
Feb-10
Aug-10
Feb-11
Aug-11
Feb-12
Aug-12
Feb-13
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
GW-17 and -18 Goracke Road
G-18 Nitrate/ni-trite as N (mg/L)
GWMA Action Limit
G-17 Nitrate as N (mg/L)
7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Aug-06
Nov-06
Feb-0
7
May-07
Aug-07
Nov-07
Feb-0
8
May-08
Aug-08
Nov-08
Feb-0
9
May-09
Aug-09
Nov-09
Feb-1
0
May-10
Aug-10
Nov-10
Feb-1
1
May-11
Aug-11
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
GW-11 Peoria Road
Nitrate as N (mg/L)
Field Dissolved Oxygen (mg/L)
GWMA Action Limit
Depth to Water (ft)7.0 mg/L Nitrate Action Limit
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Linking soil health to water quality – and thus to your health (and that of your
family’s)
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• Nutrient storage and release
• Soil reactions• Energy (C) storage
• Physical support for plants
• Aeration• Soil water storage
and movement• Resistance to soil
erosion• Physical root
proliferation and organism movement • Pest suppression
• N mineralization • OM decomposition• Support of microbial
community
Physical Chemical
Biological
Soil Health => Understanding soil processes
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Healthy soils have many beneficial organisms but few plant pests.
Ultimately, healthy soils increase grower profits and protect the environment
Healthy soils maintain a diverse and active community of soil organisms that:
Suppress plant disease, & insect and weed pests
Form beneficial symbiotic associations with plant roots
Recycle essential plant nutrients
Improve soil structure for better water and nutrient retention
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Conclusions Groundwater quality in the valley can improve
if protective management strategies – including increasing soil quality - are implemented when using nitrogen fertilizers.
Management strategies are also needed for the potential “hot spots”
Healthy soil can reduce the amount of fertilizer needed – which can also reduce the amount of N lost to groundwater.
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Lysimeter Project
Starting this summer
Measuring SQ at selected companion fields (traditional and innovative)
Collecting soil water samples monthly for 2 years
Working to build a NTT model for future credits
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FOCUS GROUPS
• Two schools in Benton County – high nitrate in their drinking water
• Rural Resident Focus Group this month
• Agriculture Community Focus Group later this year
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http://gwma.oregonstate.edu/