DES MOINES, Iowa (IAWA) — The Iowa Ag Water Alliance and several partners are releasing a new animated video that shows how bioreactors and saturated buffers clean tile drainage. It will be a critical tool in helping agronomists and water quality professionals promote these practices on farms.
What happens underground in a bioreactor or saturated buffer is not a mystery. In fact, they’ve been studied and proven effective to reduce nitrate in farm drainage. But until now, most of us haven’t been able to physically see the flow of water; Farmers understandably have a lot of questions about them before agreeing to install them.
“As a farmer myself, I’d want to know exactly what’s being placed under my soil. We hope this video makes farmers feel more comfortable with the process, and more likely to say yes,” said Rebekah Jones, Communications Director for IAWA.
Also known as edge-of-field practices, bioreactors and saturated buffers capture water from tile drainage, clean it using naturally occurring microbes, then release it into the ditch or stream.
They do not cause wet spots, drainage backups, or flooding. In fact, they don’t change in-field management at all. They’re also easy to install in batches within farming neighborhoods.
The video is the result of an industry-wide collaboration. Iowa Agriculture Water Alliance partnered with Agri Drain, Polk County, ADMC, Heartland Co-op, the Iowa Seed Association, Flynn Wright, and the Soil and Water Conservation Society to create the video.
The video is open source for anyone who uses it to educate about and promote conservation drainage on the farm.
You can watch it by visiting our Vimeo link here, or reading more about bioreactors and saturated buffers here.