Conservation Drainage
Throughout Illinois and other parts of the Midwest, farmers are increasingly investing in tile drainage systems to improve productivity and trafficability of their fields. Conservation drainage practices such as bioreactors, controlled drainage systems, saturated buffers, and constructed wetlands, are designed to capture and treat drainage from tile outlets, providing effective and often long-term nutrient loss reduction benefits.
IL Farm Bureau Saturated Buffer Field Day
Illinois Farm Bureau, Southern Illinois University College of Agriculture, Illinois Land Improvement Contractors Association, and USDA-NRCS partnered together to bring Illinois farmers an educational demonstration of our latest edge of field practice. Together they are striving to protect our natural resources and seeking out new ways to be better stewards of our land.
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University of Illinois Saturated Buffer
A grassed buffer between a field and a stream provides important benefits to the environment but underground a tile pipe can send nitrogen straight to the stream. Dr. Laura Christianson of the University of Illinois talks about how we can modify grassed buffers to remove nitrogen from the tile drainage water before sending the water downstream.
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Transforming Drainage: Saturated Buffers
The Transforming Drainage project brings together research from experimental saturated buffer sites across the U.S. Midwest to evaluate the full potential of this new and exciting practice, and develop tools and resources that will help farmers, drainage contractors, conservation staff, and others locate, design, and install saturated buffers within tile-drained landscapes.
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University of Illinois Extension: “Buffing Up” Water Quality
This saturated buffer fact sheet outlines the benefits of this practice and lists several considerations and requirements of installment.
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ADMC Controlled Drainage Fact Sheet
This ADMC webpage provides information on controlled drainage, also referred to as drainage water management, including considerations for installation and financial impacts.
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NRCS Bioreactor Video
In the summer of 2017, the Peoria County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Illinois Farm Bureau teamed up with a forward-thinking landowner to plan, design, and install a relatively new conservation drainage practice so that folks could see what the denitrifying bioreactor looks like and how it’s built. Check out this video and see if it’s something that would fit on your land!
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