A component of the course “Filling the Pipeline: Agricultural Drainage Education to Meet 21st Century Water Management Needs”
Instructor: Dr. Laura Christianson, University of Illinois
Overview: This module gives a basic introduction to edge of field monitoring for subsurface drainage water quality.
Zip file with all files included
Learning Objectives:
After completing this module, students will be able to:
- Understand high-level aspects of why and how to monitor drainage water quality
- Identify an appropriate drainage study design for a given study objective
- Have increased familiarity with data quality and uncertainty around monitored water quality data
Step by Step Guide to Complete the Module:
- Understand high-level aspects of why and how to monitor drainage water quality
- Watch Video 1: “The why, what, and how of monitoring” (05:30 min)
- Answer these thought questions: When are concentrations useful on their own? What is an example of when you need to know a nutrient load or loss rather than a concentration?
- Identify an appropriate drainage study design for a given study objective
- Watch Video 2: “Considerations to design a monitoring system” (07:07 min)
- Answer these thought questions: What do you think would be the biggest constraint for a monitoring system you might design? Cost? Personnel? The site characteristics?
- Watch Video 3: “Drainage study design” (09:37 min)
- Optional:
- Answer these thought questions: Which of these monitoring set-ups are for plots? Which are for edge-of-field monitoring for field-scale studies?
- Watch some of the supplemental videos at TransformingDrainage.org.
- Have increased familiarity with data quality and uncertainty around monitored water quality data
- Watch Video 4: “Data uncertainty” (07:44 min)
- Complete the Quiz
This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture (award number 2018-70003-27661). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
