NuReDrain partners visit Rostock University for a project meeting
The first day of the partner meeting was scheduled for meetings and updates by the partners about the prolonged monitoring of the existing field cases and the planning of new field cases for the project in the coming time.
Long time water quality monitoring
The learnings of over 14 years water quality monitoring by Rostock University in the Warnow catchment were presented and discussed. The results of the monitoring station in Dummerstorf show that there is no direct relation between nitrogen input through fertilization and nitrogen export via the drainage system in the agricultural fields, so it seems. The nitrogen losses in this catchment are dependent of the hydrology and not the fertilizer management. These results also show that it will still take decades before end-of-pipe solutions will have a meaningful impact on the nitrogen loading in the surface water. But it’s an important effort we must do now to safeguard the water resources for the future. Eager to know more? Consult this article: Hydrology is the key factor for nitrogen export from tile-drained catchments under consistent land-management (openagrar.de).
Wood chips filter
Before travelling back, the partners went to Wiepkenhagen to visit a wood chips filter – also called reactive barrier system – that removes nitrates (NO3) through biological denitrification. Some technical complications (clogging) and possible solutions (adding seashells to the wood chips) were discussed.
