Evaluation of the two-stage ditch as a best management practice

Abstract:

Artificial drainage has long been an important component of agriculture in the poorly-drained regions of the US Corn Belt. Continued increases in drainage intensity funnel more water into existing drainage ditches, resulting in higher flood stages, more erosive water velocities and decreased time for in-channel nutrient processing. The two-stage ditch is a type of in-stream restoration that involves modification of a trapezoidal drainage ditch to resemble more the features of a natural stream. The idea is to create or simulate extended benches on both sides of the ditch that would develop naturally over a period of time in a stream because of geomorphological processes. These in-channel flood plains provide a greater flow area during high flow events and offer the potential to reduce sediment load and extend the interaction time between water and vegetation on the benches, allowing larger uptake of nutrients and increasing the denitrification rates in the bench soil. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrologic model has recently been modified to represent the two-stage ditch as a conservation practice. Processes that are represented in the model include: velocity reductions due to the change in channel geometry, particle settling, plant nutrient uptake and denitrification on the benches of the two-stage ditch. The model is evaluated using data collected from a two-stage ditch constructed at the Throckmorton Purdue Agricultural Center (TPAC) near Lafayette, Indiana in September 2012. It drains an area of approximately 2.7 km2 of farmland used for corn and soybean production. Simulation results for 30 years of weather data indicated the impact of the two-stage ditch on reducing peak flow rates, flood stage and nutrient loads. For this 30 year period, 1985 – 2014, the results showed reductions of up to 40% of peak flow velocities, 35% reduction per km of two-stage ditch, of sediment basin output, 10 – 80% reduction in total phosphorus output and 0 – 15% reduction in total nitrogen.