Features Drainage Management Systems
First project in major study completed in Minnesota

With snow on the ground, crews late last year finished the first of many water-quality projects expected in the headwaters of Root River’s south branch in eastern Mower County, according to the Mower Soil & Water Conservation District (MSWCD).

The MSWCD led construction of a two-basin terrace system to control water and sediment on a Clayton Township farm field as part of the second phase of the Root River Field to Stream Partnership led by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Work involved building two berms – each berm at least the length of two football fields – to hold and filter storm water running off about 20 acres of crop land.

With the basins, sediment and phosphorus losses are expected to be reduced by more than 50 per cent from the 20-acre field, said Kevin Kuehner, project lead with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA).

Six other basins could be built in the next two years in the 2,800-acre watershed study area in Mower County along with thousands of feet of grass waterways planned for this year’s planting season.

Started in 2009, Field to Stream uses innovative equipment and technology to monitor sediment and nutrient runoff from farm fields and to study streams receiving storm water. Information collected during the project’s initial six-year phase provided farmers with baseline data to better understand the effects of their existing conservation practices. Farmers learned when soil and nutrient losses were happening and how much was leaving their field to enter nearby waterways. Monitoring continues at these sites as the second phase begins. | READ MORE