Monitoring Nitrates
Tim Hammerich
News Reporter
Monitoring nitrate runoff from your farm or ranch into groundwater can help farmers be better stewards of their land. Speaking during the Irrigation Association and National Groundwater Association annual conference, Christina Windsor says monitoring nitrates in groundwater is not an easy task.
Windsor… “No, it really isn't. You do need to really understand the background of your environment, what your groundwater is doing, how it's moving your ground and surface water interactions, and even the depth of your aquifer. So, there's a lot of factors that influence setting up a good monitoring program.”
Windsor says there are emerging technologies that are accurate and becoming more and more affordable, and monitoring nitrates in your groundwater is a smart management practice for agriculture.
Windsor… “Understanding how the nitrate concentration in the groundwater increases, and at the same time then using that to manage how much fertilizer is being applied, how the flow off of your fields is being moved. So, we can help with the monitoring side of things, and then obviously those practices have to be kind of work together with the farmer.”
That’s Christina Windsor of Ott Hydromet.
