From field to groundwater: Quantifying crop nitrogen budgets, performance metrics, and nitrate leaching in the southern Willamette Valley, OR
On this page:
This presentation will cover recent research on nutrient inputs, agricultural management and nitrate concentrations in soil solution and groundwater in the southern Willamette Basin’s Groundwater Management Area. The primary topics for this presentation will be an analysis of the trends in well water nitrate concentrations from 2006-2018 in the GWMA area, using data from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality's water sampling program. The primary finding is that despite a fair amount of attention and effort related to reducing groundwater nitrate contamination, well nitrate concentrations have increased since about 2012. EPA will also present the results of a RARE project completed at the end of FY21 that measured nitrate leaching from production farmland in order to understand how on the ground practices influence nitrate leaching. This presentation will allow us to communicate with EPA agricultural advisers and others about the findings, explanations, implications and application for our study results.