Project Progress
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Boudreau Pump Station
2021 Update - May
In late 2019 the site suffered a dyke breach on the edge of Jeanette Creek preventing the safe operation of the treatment system. By mid-spring 2020, the site was re-opened and the test continued. The Waterloo biofilter system uses a combination of electrolysis followed by biological digestion.
The system was designed to treat 40,000 liters per day. In the dry season, the runoff water phosphorus concentrations were very low. A decision was made at that time to spike the water inflow into the system to assess treatment capacity at various P concentrations.
The test period was completed in early December 2020 at the request of Chatham-Kent Drainage Supervisor. This provided sufficient time to move out the container while the land was frozen and restore the edge of bank before spring. The test results were very positive as both a 40% reduction in total phosphorus and ortho-P was achieved.
Medway Creek
2021 Update - May
Site:
A 100-acre farm in row crops with a tiled field. It has a small barn that is used for wintering 20 head of beef cattle. The test site is at the northeast corner of the property where a single tile delivers water through the small pasture to Medway Creek.
Partners:
Upper Thames River Conservation Authority (UTRCA) will be responsible for the site and the Thames River PRC will provide research and weather data support.
Progress:
Various tile insert sizes up to 36 inches were installed. The beef operation received a dairy liquid manure application. Throughout 2020, the site experienced severe dry conditions limiting water flow. Water quality is now being monitored through the 20-21 winter/spring and will be reported in the final report.
Site:
A 100-acre farm situated east of Chatham. Crops are seed corn, soybeans, specialty beans and winter wheat. There is a pig barn on the farm, and crops receive manure from it annually, using a 4R (right time, right place, right source, right rate) nutrient stewardship plan.
Research description:
One 25-acre field is being used sequentially on annual cycles to measure P removal using a Filtrexx Nutrilock biochar and new sorption material designed at the University of Windsor. Testing began in April 2018. Tile water is channeled through two tanks where P is absorbed. In the fall of 2018, modifications were made to the tile to channel water to the treatment tanks by Gillier Drainage. A weather station will be added in 2019.
Roesch Farm (Chatham)
2021 Update - May
Salford
2021 Update - May
Site:
A pig barn with manure storage on a hill surrounded by a 100-acre field that was tiled in December 2018. Part of the field slopes to the east and the remainder slopes to the west. The drainage system conducts water to Reynolds Creek and ultimately to the Lower Thames near Putnam.
Research description:
A capsule containing a combination of crushed stone and slag (material left over from smelting metal) will be inserted into the tile to capture phosphorus (P) from the water that flows out.
Water will be sampled before insertion, and the UTRCA will take samples at regular intervals, and especially after major rain events. The conservation authority’s laboratory will be used to test samples.
Muddy River
2021 Update - May
Research description:
A 20 foot container houses a silt pre-filtration system, a reactor filled with lava rock (source of magnesium) and a post treatment filtration assisted with use of flocculant to capture dissolved phosphorus. In 2021, the reactor will be filled with magnesium pellets for a final test. The system, equipped to recover the phosphorus and effluent water, can be treated for pH if adjustment is required. Operating parameters will be adjusted to optimize performance.
Water will be sampled after each step and a Western student will take samples at regular intervals, especially after major rain events.
Woodstock
2021 Update - May
Site:
A 70-acre farm with vegetable, row crops and alfalfa. Crops are rotated based on strips used for strawberries and other green vegetables. In areas other than the vegetable growing area (e.g. hay, corn, soybeans), manure is applied annually. The farm has a municipal drain on the property with three blind inlets.
One of the municipal blind inlets drains about 50 acres in an alfalfa field. In this test, an inlet cover is equipped with five Hickenbottom intakes which contain MetaMateria, a sponge that absorbs phosphorus (P), through which water has to infiltrate.
In two other blind inlets, there are existing Hickenbottoms, each of which has been fitted with a Silt Sock wood chip ring protecting an inner ring filled with MetaMateria.
The site is instrumented to measure P removal from surface water flow as well as sediment control. The MetaMateria sponge is retrieved annually in July to measure its efficiency at removing P. The sponge has a life of seven years, so can be re-used.
Chippewa First Nation Tile Capture
2021 Update - May
Site:
The site is situated on a grain farm operated by a local farmer. A municipal drain outlet that services about 70 acres on several farms provides a flow of tile water to be filtered for phosphorus removal. The fields receive commercial fertilizers, and the testing is on phosphorus that runs into the system.
Partners:
The design and technology to intercept tile water was developed by ESSRE Consulting Inc. and the installation has been done by GAPS Ontario.
Description:
An underground tank containing lava rock and sponge materials take water from an underground municipal drain. In September 2021, a new product, Zeolite, mined in northern British Columbia was substituted into the tank for a year long test. As the water rises through the tank, phosphorus is absorbed, and the outflow of water empties into an open municipal drain.
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