Artificial nitrogen sinks
Background information:
- In watersheds that generate elevated delivery of agricultural nitrogen (N), constructed wetlands or carbon bioreactors hold great promise in sustaining agricultural productivity while also protecting the water quality.
- These systems are positioned to intercept drainage waters or N-rich groundwater and promote denitrification, the conversion of nitrate to N gases.
- Some of these practices are eligible for USDA EQIP support in select states (e.g., Iowa, Arkansas and Illinois), but widespread adoption is stymied by critical knowledge gaps, including the seasonal performance of different designs in different settings, longevity of treatment and lack of design criteria.
Our Approach: 
- We seek to advance the adoption and strategic placement of appropriate bioreactor and constructed wetland designs.
- Our project will couple a comprehensive meta-analysis of past and current studies with expert judgment to develop place-based assessments, including web Soil Survey interpretation of the performance, constraints, uncertainties and variability of different types of artificial sinks.
- Our efforts will be informed by advisory teams of technical and implementation experts and by ongoing assessment of training and informational needs of our stakeholders.
- We will deliver guidance materials and other synthesis outputs to our stakeholders and partners through conferences, workshops and web based vehicles.
- We will include case studies within selected watersheds of the Chesapeake Bay and Upper Mississippi region.
- Finally, our project will provide opportunities for graduate and undergraduate training and the development of online teaching resources and shared course development.
Expected Outcomes:
We expect that the long-term impact of this work will contribute to improvements in the water quality of estuarine systems resulting from decreased watershed N loading. At the intermediate time scale, outcomes from our work will guide the efficient siting of these systems as via Federal (e.g., NRCS EQIP), Extension and state programs and enhance the understanding of the gaps in knowledge and limitations of artificial N sinks. Immediate outcomes include increased stakeholder knowledge of the utility and placement of artificial N sinks, undergraduate and graduate student training on artificial N sinks and increased ability to map specific locations suitable for these best management practices. To achieve these outcomes, we will generate a series of outputs including website; peer-reviewed journal articles; workshops, and presentations at National conferences and in conjunction with regional Extension and partner trainings.
