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Sediment Pond Effectiveness for Removing P from PAM-Treated Irrigation Furrows

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  032080,  2003 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.14003) @2003
Authors:   David L. Bjorneberg, Rodrick D. Lentz
Keywords:   Furrow Irrigation, Sediment Pond, Phosphorus, Polyacrylamide

Polyacrylamide (PAM) greatly reduces erosion on furrow irrigated fields while sediment ponds can be constructed to remove suspended sediment from irrigation runoff. Both practices are approved for reducing phosphorus (P) loading in the Lower Boise River Pollution Trading Project in southwest Idaho. The objective of this project was to measure the effectiveness of using PAM in combination with a sediment pond. Six sediment ponds were installed to receive runoff from either PAM-treated or control furrows. Three crop-years of data showed that applying PAM to furrows reduced sediment and total P loading to the ponds 50 to 80%, which also reduced the mass of sediment and total P retained in the ponds. However, PAM application did not change the relative effectiveness of the ponds to retain sediment and P. On average, 87% of the sediment and 75% of the total P was retained in the sediment ponds. These results indicate that the effectiveness of PAM application and sediment pond practices is additive so full credit could be given for each practice when used in combination on the Lower Boise River Pollution Trading Project.

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