The role of vegetation covers in drainage ditch on reduction of nitrogen and phosphorous in drainage effluent

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Irrigation and Reclamation Engineering, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran.

2 Department of Irrigation and Reclamation Engineering, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

3 Senior Researcher, National Rice Research Institute, Rasht, Guilan, Iran

4 Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Agricultural Science, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

Abstract

Agricultural drainage water, containing inorganic minerals (nitrogen, phosphorus, and metals) and organic pollutants (pesticides and agricultural toxins), is considered a major threat to aquatic ecosystems, leading to eutrophication and damage to downstream water resources. Undredged vegetated ditches can potentially serve as effective beds for removing nutrients and suspended solids from agricultural drainage water. This study investigates the efficiency of non-dredged drainage channels in removing nutrients from drainage water in the paddy fields of Gilan province. For this purpose, two treatments of natural drainage channels, without vegetation (V1) and with vegetation (V2), with lengths of 200 and 105 m respectively, containing specific plant species (Reed, Typha, Sparganium) were examined under high (C1) and low (C2) pollutant concentrations in July and August. The study measured the initial nitrogen and phosphorous content in water, sediment, and plants to compute the mass balance for the V1C1, V1C2, V2C1, and V2C2 treatments. Analysis of variance revealed significant removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, with the highest removal percentages observed in the V2C2 treatment. Phytoextraction was the primary nitrogen and phosphorous removal process in V2C2 at the rate of 37.06% and 61.69%, respectively, while seepage losses dominated in V2C1 treatment at 27.42% and 20.04% per 100 meters, respectively. Sediment absorption was notable, particularly for nitrogen in V2C2 and phosphorus in V1C1 treatments. Thus, our findings suggest that natural un-dredged drainage ditches possess promising capabilities in eliminating typical pollutants discharged from agricultural areas, thereby substantially improving the quality of drainage water that flows into downstream water sources.

Keywords

Main Subjects

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

Introduction

The increase in population has spurred agricultural activities to meet the food demands of humanity. Non-point source pollution, exemplified by nitrogen and phosphorus runoff from agricultural fields, is significant. Uncontrolled use of pesticides and fertilizers, as well as lack of management in fields, result in remarkable sources of pollutants in drainage water. Rice serves as a crucial staple for approximately half of the global population, with particular significance in Iran. Nonetheless, the cultivation of rice in paddy fields necessitates considerable amounts of irrigation water and fertilizers, resulting in the production of significant volumes of unconventional water, which can have adverse environmental impacts. The utilization of vegetated drainage ditches represents an innovative and cost-effective best management practice (BMPs) for treating drainage water and reducing its contribution to the pollution of downstream water resources. Hence, evaluating the capacity of vegetated drainage ditches to manage nutrient loads is crucial.Top of Form

Objective:

        The main objectives of this study were twofold: (1) to evaluate the efficacy of vegetated drainage ditches in treating different levels of nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, and (2) to explore how these factors collectively affect the removal potential of nitrogen and phosphorus.

 Materials and method:

 The experiment was conducted in two distinct ditches, namely dredged (V1) and un-dredged (V2) ditches, nestled in the northern and eastern regions of the paddy fields, respectively. Two different concentrations of pollutants were employed, high (C1) and low (C2) concentrations, to assess the potential of ditches in removing pollutants. The applied concentration varied based on the dimensions of each ditch. Namely, high and low concentrations of fertilizers were developed by injecting two sets of 45 and 22.5 kg for V1 and 12 and 6 kg for V2, respectively. Four treatments were investigated on the impact of both types of ditches and nutrient concentrations, namely V1C1, V1C2, V2C1, and V2C2. To evaluate the role and difference of the two ditches in the natural treatment and removal of nitrogen and phosphorus, a mass balance was developed, for which the components include seepage losses, sediment surface absorption, and combined effect of plant uptake, denitrification, and volatilization.

Results and discussion:

       By considering the interaction of the factors, it was determined that the highest and lowest nitrogen and phosphorus load occurred in treatments V1C1 (20.15 and 8.46 kg) and V2C2 (2.48 and 1.04 kg), respectively. The share of pollutant removal due to seepage from the channel bed in V1 drain was calculated as 15% and 8. 2% for nitrogen and phosphorus, and 22.85% and 20.02% for V2 drain. The combined effect of phytoremediation, denitrification, and volatilization was estimated at 1.09% and 5.32%, for the V1 and V2 drains respectively, which was 32.11% and 19.65% of the total pollutant removed. This result shows the significant role of phytoremediation in the treatment of drainage water in paddy fields, which can be used to improve the quality of drainage water.

Conclusion:

       This outcome underscores the considerable significance of phytoremediation in addressing the drainage water issues in paddy fields, presenting an opportunity for enhancing the overall quality of drainage water. The decrease can be ascribed to the prolonged retention time of fertilizers within the undredged ditch and the impact of vegetative cover. In this regard, the vegetative cover's influence on extending the retention time of fertilizers in the system surpasses the length of the ditch itself. On the other hand, not dredging the drains leads to a decrease in the drainage capacity, especially in flood conditions. However, the discharge without treatment of the drainage water to the environment will result in pollution of surface water sources, which has its own negative and detrimental consequences. Overall, the most sustainable practice starts with source control practices, namely improved field water management to lower drainage water production in addition to a more precise use of chemicals.

 

Author Contributions

M.M.B: Data preparation, Software, Formal Analysis, Validation, Results Interpretation, Investigation. S.K: Software, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Writing-original draft preparation, Writing-review and editing, Visualization, Final report review. M.P: Conceptualization, Methodology, Data Curation, Writing-review, Supervision, Project Administration, Formal Analysis. M.R.Y: Conceptualization, Data Curation, Investigation, Supervision, Funding Acquisition, Validation, Results Interpretation. M.N: Investigation, Supervision, Validation, Results Interpretation, Conceptualization, Methodology, Wrting-review.

Data Availability Statement

Not applicable.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all participants of the present study.

Ethical considerations

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this manuscript. In addition, the ethical issues, including plagiarism, informed consent, misconduct, data fabrication and/or falsification, double publication and/or submission, and redundancies have been completely observed by the author.

Conflict of interest

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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Iranian Journal of Soil and Water Research
Volume 55, Issue 12
March 2025
Pages 2243-2260

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