Agricultural BMPs

An Educator’s Guide

What are Agricultural BMPs?

Best Management Practices

An approach to help farmers reduce or eliminate agricultural pollution without causing economic disruption to farms.

Why are BMPs important?

Help control and reduce non-point source pollutants

Reduce surface run-off Provide farmers with safe alternatives to the

use of fertilizers

Non-Point Source Pollutants that have no traceable origin of

entry into the water supply Costly to control

What are NPS pollutants?

What is Agricultural Run-off?

Surface water that drains from farm fields due to heavy rainfall and melting snow.

Contains organic waste from animals and fertilizers.

Pollutants of Agricultural Run-off

Nutrients

Pathogens

Sediments

Toxic waste

Nutrients

Substances that help plants and animals live and grow.

Located in the surface water run-off Contains ammonium, phosphate, and nitrate

compounds. Found in fertilizers and animal waste These nutrients in the water promote eutrophication.

The dissolved oxygen level decreases. The result is the death of the fish and other aquatic life.

Pathogens

Disease causing microorganisms present in human and animal waste

Most pathogens are bacteria and viruses

178 samples, 108 sample sites

30% of samples < 100 Enterococcus/100 ml

48% of Samples < 200 Enterococcus /100 ml

82% of Samples < 500 Enterococcus /100 ml

18% of Samples > 500 Enterococcus /100 ml

Coldwater Creek

Sediments

Soil particles from fallow fields carried to lakes, rivers, bays, and ponds

Toxic Wastes

Are chemicals such as pesticides which cause human and wildlife health problems

Runoff collection

Some solutions to agricultural run-off

Filter strips: rows of plantings that are designed specifically to remove pollutants from runoff from sheet flow of adjacent land through filtering and infiltration

Biosolids: a natural fertilizer that is processed at a wastewater plant. Provides slow release of nutrients.

Biosolids application

UWF/USDA PROJECT

To educate teachers and students about the importance of agricultural run-off A grant is provided through the USDA Introduce the techniques and the applications of research to the discovery of pollutants on

land and water www.uwf.edu/usda

Science teachers in training, Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, FL

Project Overview

Research Projects

Comparison of biosolids to inorganic fertilizer application on Bahia Grass pasture- runoff water quality, soil chemistry, soil microbiology, and grass yield.

Watershed analysis of nutrient and fecal sourcesEscambia RiverColdwater CreekPond Creek

Aquaculture pond overflow grass strip BMP analysis nutrients, organics, oxygen demand, microbiology

Row Crop BMPs and runoff quality

Education Summer Camp 2004

Vocabulary Words

Aquaculture: the growing of aquatic plants and animals for food or other purposes

Biosolids: solid or semisolid material obtained from treatment wastewater, often used as fertilizers.

Dissolved oxygen: concentration of oxygen dissolved in water Eutrophication: when high level of nutrients are located in lakes or ponds, this

reduces the dissolved oxygen content and causes death to fish and other inhabitants

Field capacity: moisture content of a soil after the gravitational water has drained away

Grant: money that has been applied for by organizations to help in development and/or research

Organic: any food grown without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides