A water runoff project “Ohio Agricultural Retention Treatment Systems” at the Ohio State Lima Regenerative Farm has received a $650,000 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency through an assistance agreement with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Project partners include The Ohio State University, the Allen Soil and Water Conservation District, the Ohio Department of Agriculture and 7M Farms.
Parts of three crop fields at the Ohio State Lima research farm will be converted into a water retention pond that will be used to retain and passively treat surface runoff and subsurface drainage before recycling back onto the fields for the purpose of irrigating crops. The project also involves converting 900 feet of riparian area into a saturated buffer, that would help treat subsurface drainage from 17 acres of farm field.
The project will reduce nutrient loading into the Auglaize River and downstream to the Maumee River and the western Lake Erie basin and improve water quality by increasing onsite water retention, agricultural reuse and irrigation, and adding a saturated buffer.
Both the farm and receiving stream will have improved climate resiliency by increasing the ability to store water from more frequent concentrated rain events and to use it during subsequent periods of dry weather, providing both an environmental benefit of reduced discharge of water and nutrients and an agricultural benefit of water for crops during drought and dry period.
Dr. Vinayak Shedekar, assistant professor of Agricultural Water Management at Ohio State, aims to monitor these practices for their effectiveness. These sites will also serve as a demonstration showcase for educating producers, Ohio drainage contractors, and other stakeholders. The project team aims to organize a field day featuring these practices and a live demonstration of drainage Installation in autumn 2024. The community will be able to continue to watch the progress in the fields off Reservoir Road between Mumaugh and Thayer roads.
The Ohio Agricultural Retention Treatment Systems project is grant GL00E03280.
