Hydrology and Pollutant Removal Effectiveness of Wetland Buffer Areas Receiving Pumped Agricultural Drainage Water

摘要

The hydrology and pollutant-removing effectiveness of two wetland areas being used to buffer impacts of pumped agricultural drainage in Eastern North Carolina were studied. Collection and analysis of field data over a two-year period showed that buffer one, originally equipped with an efficient diffuser canal, was essentially 100% effective for pollutant removal for all observed events. A routine was added to calculate residence time of the water on the buffer and percent removal of nutrients. Hourly surface and subsurface field drainage volumes calculated by a water management model. The two models estimated that over a 20-year period, study buffer one would remove 79% of total Kjeldahl nitrogen, 82% of nitrate nitrogen, 81% of total phosphorus, and 92% of sediment.