STL Bioremediation and Erosion Control

Those black snake looking net tubes that are used to control erosion are also bioremediation filters.

These images are from the same  area of StLouis with the 3 Basin Water Pollution and Filtration setup that cleans pollution from water runoff from a stlouis city street and building parking lots.

Here's some close up images showing how well these dentrifying bioremediation systems work when placed at or near ground level.







The erosion control filters are performing an outstanding job.

Notice the uphill side in the images above, the soil and organic matter is building up? This proves the filters are trapping the soil runnoff before it travels into the waterway below.

Yes those are wood chips in the black snake netting

This also means any contaminants in the water runnoff are also filtered in this modified dentrifying biofilter.

Lessoning Agriculture Field Water Runnoff Pollution

 Agriculture contaminants is one of the 3 pollution sources quoted in EWG's Tap Water Database: Pollution Sources and is one reason ElectroHemp has been sharing ways farmers can use buffer zones, filter strips with phytoremediation to lesson field pollution runoff scenarios.

Agriculture

Agricultural activities are one of the main sources of water pollution for U.S. rivers, streams, lakes, wetlands and groundwater. Each year, farm operators apply more than 12 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer and 8 million tons of phosphorous fertilizer to cropland, some of which runs off into water sources.

Manure is another important source of water contamination. It’s estimated that livestock produce up to 1 billion tons of manure each year, and runoff from farms and feedlots can be laden with sediments and disease-causing microorganisms. And many pesticides have no federally mandated limits for drinking water, which means utilities and their customers have no benchmark to know if the amount of a specific pesticide in water is safe.

Many water utilities in farm country are forced to treat water supplies to remove agriculture-related pollutants, often relying on expensive processes such as carbon treatment and ion exchange. Despite utilities' efforts, agricultural contaminants are detected in the drinking water served to millions of Americans each year.


Source: EWG's Tap Water Database: Pollution Sources

Denitrifying Bioreactor

Dentrifying Bioreactors  information, designs, tips, best use  and information.

What is a woodchip bioreactor?

Purdue University

https://engineering.purdue.edu/watersheds/conservationdrainage/bioreactors.html
Bioreactors are essentially subsurface trenches filled with a carbon source, mainly wood chips, through which water is allowed to flow just before leaving the drain to enter a surface water body. The carbon source in the trench serves as a substrate for bacteria that break down the nitrate through denitrification or other biochemical processes. Bioreactors provide many advantages:

• They use proven technology
• They require no modification of current practices
• No land needs to be taken out of production
• There is no decrease in drainage effectiveness
• They require little or no maintenance
• They last for up to 20 years.

How do bioreactors work? Organisms from the soil colonize the woodchips. Some of them break down the woodchips into smaller organic particles. Others “eat” the carbon produced by the woodchips, and “breathe” the nitrate from the water. Just as humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide, these microorganisms breathe in nitrate and breathe out nitrogen gas, which exits the bioreactor into the atmosphere. Through this mechanism, nitrate is removed from the tile water before it can enter surface waters.
Understanding Woodchip Bioreactors
Designing and Constructing Bioreactors to Reduce Nitrate Loss from Subsurface Drains (Illinois, tri-fold format)
Woodchip Bioreactors for Nitrate in Agricultural Drainage (Iowa, 4 pages. Click "Download" in blue table.)
"Evaluating Denitrifying Bioreactors" - On the Ground with the Leopold Center (Video from Iowa, 2:35)
Bioreactors: Benefits and Potential Challenges" - Iowa Learning Farms Webinar (Video recording from Iowa)
Design Information
Denitrifying Bioreactor (Code 747)NRCS Interim Conservation Practice Standard in Iowa and Indiana. Iowa Statement of Work
Interactive routine that can be used to determine size, cost and evaluate performance of a bioreactor installed in a field with a specified soil and county in Illinois: 
http://www.wq.illinois.edu/dg/Equations/Bioreactor.exe.
Financial Incentives
Denitrifying Bioreactors are eligible for financial assistance through the NRCS Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Where the conservation practice standard has been accepted, financial assistance is often available through EQIP. In Indiana, the incentive is $5800. Incentives in Iowa

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