Water News Archive

Pesticide Leaching & Runoff Management

Runoff and/or leaching can occur when pesticides are carried off the application site into water such as rivers, lakes and streams, wells, storm sewers, or into groundwater. Runoff/leaching can occur when too much pesticide is applied or is spilled on the surface, too much rainwater or irrigation water occurs in a short period of time, or highly water soluble pesticides are used. To gain a better understanding of how, where and why water runs off and how to prevent pollution read the following UNL publications:

Watershed Planning & Management

Watershed planning and management comprise an approach to protecting water quality and quantity that focuses on the whole watershed. This approach is necessary due to the nature of polluted runoff, which in most watersheds is the biggest contributor to water pollution. Polluted runoff is a caused by a variety of land use activities including development, transportation and agriculture, and may originate anywhere in the watershed. Watershed planning and management involves a number of activities including:

Pond Management Tool

A pond is a delicate aquatic ecosystem where multiple interactions affect one another. Knowing the surface area and volume of a pond is critical information to making proper pond management decisions about chemical dose, evaporation/filling rates, fish stocking rates, etc. Inaccurate measurements of area or volume can lead to ineffective aquatic plant management via under dosing, or worse, overdosing. Overdosing can remove too much plant biomass causing oxygen depletion and can potentially lead to fish kills.

Methane (Anaerobic) Digesters

A methane digester system, commonly referred to as an AD (anaerobic digester), is a device that promotes the decomposition of manure or 'digestion' of the organics in manure to simple organics and gaseous biogas products.

Water Zones

Once good soils are in place, create water zones. Water zones are distinct sections of your property which contain plants with similar water needs. Group ornamentals into H-M-L zones in the landscape. Keep each distinct plant group by themselves – set watering minutes per zone accordingly.

What is a pesticide?

The public is becoming increasingly concerned about the harmful effects of pesticides on the environment. Protecting water and the environment is a key element of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP). It is essential that pesticide applicators understand all aspects of the pesticides they use in order to properly manage them. Whether you want to learn more about protecting human health, the environment, becoming certified and licensed, or improving your bottom line UNL Extension PSEP can help!

Subsurface Drip

Advantages and Disadvantages of Subsurface Drip Irrigation, EC776 (PDF, 1.2 MB; 8 full color pages) Discusses subsurface drip irrigation, including the advantages of water application efficiency and savings, energy savings and potential yield increases and the disadvantges of initial investment, system capacity, design restrictions and emitter clogging.

Livestock & Poultry Expansion: Critical Issues for Discussion with Farmers and Communities

There is a growing interest in establishing new livestock and poultry facilities in Nebraska, many of which will involve contractual arrangement with supply chain partners. Our purpose is to inform Extension educators and other farm advisors on those critical issues to be considered in the planning of a new livestock/poultry facility and prepare these advisors for leading farmers successfully through this process.

Design Tools for Small AFOs

This spreadsheet design tool is used to assist the Sprinkler Vegetative Treatment System  engineer in determining the flow rate, pipeline friction losses, elevation losses, pump capacity, and required horsepower for the pump station. This tool also evaluates the water flow characteristics in the towable sprinkler  system.  Here individual nozzle performance is evaluated along with tube friction loss and water velocity.

Odor Management

Odor emission is of great concern to the general public. An odor management plan is required in the permit application for livestock operations with more than 1,000 animal units. Producers need to understand odor emission from animal housing, manure storage and handling, and land application and available management options.

Visual illustration of the nitrogen cycle New Whitepaper Explores the Connection between Soil Health and Water Quality

The Soil Health Nexus is excited to debut two new resources on the Soil Health Toolbox! Two Soil Health Nexus members, Francisco Arriaga, Associate Professor and Extension Specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Anna Cates, Assistant Professor and State Soil Health Specialist at the University of Minnesota, recently published a long-awaited whitepaper exploring the connection between soil health and water quality.

Crop Water Use

For more in-depth coverage of Crop Water Use issues, ETgages and Water Sensors, see Agricultural Irrigation.

Water Optimizer Tool

The Water Optimizer tool evaluates single fields for several crop options. Irrigated crops include: corn, soybeans, sorghum, wheat, alfalfa, edible beans, sunflowers, and sugar beets. Dryland crops include: corn, soybeans, sorghum, sunflowers, alfalfa and wheat in continuous, summer fallow and eco-fallow rotations.

Example: Estimating Manure Phosphorus Application Rates

The Nebraska P-Index developed by the University of Nebraska (2006) will be used for analysis. The P Index risk value is the sum of the erosion and runoff components. The interpretation of risk and recommended manure application risk fall into one of four levels: low, medium, high, and very high.

Standard Drawings

Alfalfa valve profile block Deadhead standard offset Deadhead standard offset with valve Diesel pump with clutch

Phosphorus Loss

Land application of manure can be beneficial to crop production but can result in increased risk of P loss to surface waters. When manure is applied to meet crop nitrogen needs, the amount of P applied is typically much more than the P removed in the harvest of one crop. Effective January 1, 2007, operators of large CAFOs in Nebraska need to assess the risk of P delivery to surface waters from each of their designated fields by using a P index before manure can be applied.

Naturally Occurring Elements in Groundwater - Part 3 of a Series - Fluoride

There are naturally occurring elements and minerals within Nebraska geology, and with that, it is not uncommon to find them in Nebraska’s groundwater. This month, the spotlight series continues with fluoride.