ASABE Technical Library - Abstract

Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.
If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, view access and subscription options

A COMPARISON OF SOIL WETNESS BY MORPHOLOGICAL AND MODELING METHODS

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

Citation:  Paper number  701P0104,  . (doi: 10.13031/2013.15760)
Authors:   D. L. Lindbo, M. J. Vepraskas, E. Severson, X. He
Keywords:   Soil morphology, water table, and wetness

Regulations in NC require that site evaluation for on-site wastewater system include an estimation of seasonal high water table. The estimation is based either on the occurrence of colors of chroma 2 or less in the soil profile or (after Jan.1, 2005) the depth at which 2% or more redoximorphic feature are first observed. However, sites do exist where the actual depth to soil wetness condition may be deeper than what the morphological indicators suggest due to external changes in the local or regional hydrology. These sites can be evaluated by direct observation of the water table during wet periods. A new regulation developed by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, On-site Wastewater Section have recently been put into effect. The regulation allows water table to be determined by one of 3 methods; monitoring only, monitoring and modeling, and modeling only. The specific details of each method are spelled out in the new regulation. The objective of this paper is to relate the results attained from the monitoring methods to the observed morphology. Results indicate that the monitoring/modeling methods do not always correlate to morphology. In general all the monitoring methods are more conservative and place the water table as much a 60 cm above the water table depth determined by morphology.

(Download PDF)    (Export to EndNotes)