Current Research: Abstracts

Emission of Nitrous Oxide and Ammonia From New York State Dairy Farms: Measurement, Modeling and Extension

Gaseous nitrogen emissions from agriculture have significant environmental impacts: ammonia (NH3) volatilization from manures contributes to increased N deposition, while nitrous oxide (N2O) released from agricultural soils by microbial processes is a potent greenhouse gas. The goal of this project is to quantify NH3 and N2O losses from large dairy farms in New York, which are typical of those in the northeastern United States. Dairy farms figure significantly in regional N cycling, importing N in feed and fertilizer and via N2 fixation in cultivated leguminous crops. Farms in this region are unique for several reasons: a) high manure N loading on croplands, b) high proportion of farms are on shallow soils over low-permeability glacial till, which leads to elevated seasonal soil moisture levels that favor denitrification, and c) many non-farm rural residents living in close proximity to farms, compelling farmers to adopt manure treatment and handling systems/practices that control odor that also affect gaseous N emissions. No assessments of agricultural N2O emissions have been performed in the Northeast, and studies on NH3 are limited.

Integrating Data and Models from the Cannonsville, New York Watershed to Assess Short - and Long-Term Effects of Phosphorus BMPS in the Northeast

Definitive studies of the watershed impact of BMPs are difficult to conduct because many processes are at work and natural variability cause tremendous fluctuations in water and nutrient fluxes from the landscape. Models are needed that represent the watershed processes at different scales so that critical processes at the soil surface and in the vadose zone can be understood. This is especially important where there are significant lags between changes in management and their effects on water quality in a watershed.

In close cooperation with the watershed organizations directly involved in the management of the watershed, this project will employ statistical and distributed modeling approaches to consider nonpoint agricultural BMPs for water quality management in the Cannonsville Watershed within New York State (a USDA-ARS CEAP watershed). Both Project Directors, Shoemaker and Steenhuis, have conducted research in this basin for several years. The Cannonsville Watershed is ideal for a study basin because of the extensive and good quality data sets that have been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, the New York State Dept. of Conservation, and New York City (NYC). The Cannonsville reservoir at the outlet of the basin is a large and important part of the NYC water supply system, which is threatened by phosphorous-induced eutrophication. Nearby Delaware, Hudson, and Susquehanna watersheds experience similar problems.

This project will consider both short and long term effects of BMPs on both dissolved and particulate forms of phosphorous. Dissolved phosphorous in the summer will have the most immediate impact on algal populations. However, the EPA TMDL for the Cannonsville Reservoir is expressed in terms of total phosphorous because particulate phosphorous can eventually transform into a form that can be adsorbed by algae. Simulations by Shoemaker's group show that total phosphorous loading to the reservoir lake will increase over time because of cropland soil build up of phosphorous. A separate mass balance shows at least twice as much phosphorous enters the watershed each year through feed and fertilizer as leaves by entering the reservoir. This loading increase is slow, but is significant over decades. Hence, we must consider both short and long term impacts. Sustainability depends upon long-term impacts.

Integrating Data and Models from the Cannonsville, NY Watershed to Assess Short- and Long-term Effects of Phosphorous BMPs in the Northeast

We propose to evaluate the impact of phosphorus Best Management Practices (BMPs) by coupling a suite of models, statistical inference, and a range of data types from the Cannonsville Watershed in the Catskills region of NY. We will make use of an unusually detailed "BMP-Access" data base, which gives location (by farm and field), date, cost, and type of each BMP implemented in the watershed since the nineties. This BMP database will be combined with the extensive flow and water quality monitoring data from 1990 to present, with intensive flow and water quality data from smaller-scale controlled experiments, and with extensive data on phosphorus (P) sources, land use, and manure handling already organized for existing models of the Cannonsville Watershed. This will enable us to quantify the effect of BMPs at the watershed scale while correcting for runoff mechanisms and exogenous effects such as weather, P build-up in the soil, and changes in dairy populations. In this analysis we will rank the impact of BMPs using models which have already been calibrated for the full watershed [SWAT, GLWF and VSA-(G)WLF] and for smaller subwatersheds (SMDR). We will also adapt SWAT to the specific and critical runoff conditions that occur (saturated excess overland flow from variable source areas (VSAs)) in the watershed.

The overall objective is to use modeling, statistical inference and our extensive data sources to quantify the effectiveness of BMPs in New York and the Northeast. Specific objectives are to: 1. Assess the relative benefits and costs of alternative BMPs for controlling dissolved and total P in the context of short- and long-term water quality goals. 2. Use both Hortonian and saturated excess runoff/variable source area (VSA) models to evaluate P transport in watersheds where a permeable surface zone overlays a dense sub layer and to develop an extension of SWAT (SWAT-VSA) that incorporates VSA hydrology. 3. Develop a computationally feasible procedure for cost-effective ranking of BMP's, and to develop an understanding of causes of differences among the rankings generated by different models. 4.
Develop methods to incorporate the most cost-effective BMP's in whole farm plans in close cooperation with the NYS Watershed Agricultural Council and personnel from Cornell Cooperative Extension, NRCS, local soil & water conservation districts and county planners. Design an extensive website with links to available maps, monitoring data and model predictions. Confidentiality will be maintained.

Both CoPD's have been working extensively in the Cannonsville watershed and between them have expertise in hydrology, water quality modeling, statistical analysis, field experimentation, environmental systems analysis, optimization and economics. The research team also includes additional specialists in statistics, economics, agronomy, animal science and farm management.

Nitrous Oxide and Ammonia Emission from Dairy Farms: Experimental Observation and Modeling

The Vaadia-BARD Postdoctoral Fellowship. The goal of this project is to quantify ammonia and nitrous oxide losses from large dairy farms.

Optimizing Two-Phase Flow in Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells are high?efficiency power generation devices that use hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen reacts electrochemically with atmospheric oxygen and produces only water as a byproduct. These cells have a relatively high power density, low weight, and low working temperatures. These characteristics make fuel cells a prime candidate for both mobile and stationary low? and medium?power applications. Fuel cells are currently being used to run cars and buses in demonstration projects and will run, in the near future, block?type thermal power stations.

In order to realize the full potential of fuel cell technology, many materials-related research challenges must be addressed. One of these is to efficiently remove water from the cells. The current theoretical understanding of water removal mechanisms is limited and needs to be improved, because water transport through the diffusion medium is particularly important for the proper operation of the fuel cell.

We propose to apply two-phase flow theory developed for unsaturated geological materials to water flow in fuel cells. Of particular interest is the unstable flow theory that describes the formation of distinct preferential flow paths in homogeneous geological media. Since the current understanding of how to engineer materials to transport water out of the fuel cell is inadequate, the ultimate goal is to be able to select diffusion media for optimum performance on a theoretical basis rather than by trial and error.

Regional Water Quality Coordination Project - A Proposal for Regional Coordination within USEPA Region 2

To enhance the communication among the land grant universities to better support local, state and regional initiative for improving water quality. Developing and implementing a regionally coordinated and integrated education, extension, and research program that takes advantage of the expertise at the land grant universities, minimizes the duplication of effort, and leverages multiple funding sources to effectively address water quality issues, and to expand our working relationship with federal, state and local partners to better share resources and compound expertise to develop sound scientific solutions to our water resources problems throughout the region.

Surveying Upstate NY Well Water for Pesticide Contamination

This is a continuous ongoing proposal.

NYS DEC and others have expressed an interest in a survey of representative areas in upstate New York to determine the occurrence and extent of pesticide contamination of groundwater. Of particular interest are "worse case" areas where significant pesticide use coincides with shallow aquifers, presenting elevated contamination risks.

Systematic Monitoring, Modeling and Evaluation for Management in the Cannonsville Reservoir Basin

In accord with the New York City (NYC) Watershed Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), the Cannonsville Reservoir basin is phosphorus restricted. This means economic growth in the watershed is highly constrained until nutrient loading is reduced so that in-reservoir water quality meets federal and state water quality criteria. In response, Delaware County has adopted a Delaware County Action Plan (DCAP) to implement sound scientifically based solutions, which was also a central policy recommendation from the Ad-Hoc Task Force on agriculture and NYC watersheds (DEP 1991). DCAP has dual goals:

• To identify, select and implement offsets so that communities and businesses in Delaware County are not impeded in their economic growth;
• To reduce overall phosphorus levels delivered to the Cannonsville Reservoir to satisfy TMDL requirements and thereby protect both water quality for New York City and maintain the economic viability of Delaware County.

To meet these dual goals the original QAPP (NYS-WRI 2003) several specific project objectives were identified including:

• Establish adequate understanding of the relationships between land uses and water quality in the West Branch River system to meet management purposes of DCAP
• Provide a scientific basis for evaluating the effects of implementation under DCAP.

One of the primary actions to meet these goals was Task III.B, Watershed Modeling. Multiple parties independently have been actively engaged in this task for up to the past ten years and as such a unique opportunity has arisen to share and evaluate these multiple modeling perspectives so that a shared vision can be developed and future work can be pursued synergistically. At the most recent Science Support Group meeting (1/26/05) the participants agreed that, as a first step in this collaborative modeling effort, the modeling parties would exchange models (code), input datasets, and datasets used to corroborate or "calibrate" models as well as criteria used to evaluate model performance. This funding request will help facilitate these activities by the Cornell Hydrology Group (a.k.a. the Cornell Soil and Water Lab Research Team).

Training and Research in Integrated Water Resource Management and Sustainable Agricultural Development in the Lake Tana Basin in Northern Ethiopia

The overall objective of the project between Bahir Dar University and Cornell University is to train students and professionals in topics that ultimately will increase agricultural production while sustaining the biophysical capacity of the natural resource base. This is essential in future development of Ethiopia since agriculture is the backbone of the Ethiopia economy.

US EPA Region 2/Land Grant University Partnership: FY2006

This project provides funding to support liaison services for year 7 of the US Environmental Protection Agency Region 2 / Land Grant University Partnership. It will fund a portion of the salary and fringe expenses associated with the Interagency Liaison position. This initiative is administered in coordination with the Regional Water Quality Coordination within US EPA Region 2 Project, an element of the USDA Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service, National Integrated Water Quality Program (NIWQP).

Visualization and Quantification of Bacterial Transport in Sand Under Steady and Transient Flow

Land-applied manures and wastes and on-site wastewater treatment systems are sources of pathogenic contaminants for surface and groundwater. Most studies of pathogen mobility have focused on the transport and retention of bacteria in their free form, assuming bacteria behave like inanimate colloids. However, bacterial surfaces are much more complex and variable, with cellular appendages, coatings of exocellular polysaccharides, and the ability to form biofilms, properties which can change over the cell cycle, depending on physiological and nutritional status. These processes have been largely ignored in transport studies. Furthermore, pathogens generally enter the environment from surface soils only partially saturated with water, where transport phenomena are much more complex and more poorly understood than saturated aquifer transport. The goal of the proposed research is to develop a new conceptual basis for understanding the role of biofilm formation and transient, unsaturated flow on pathogen transport in porous media. Our primary hypothesis is that the distribution and retention of colloids (particulate and pelagic microbes) in unsaturated porous media will be governed not only by the expected electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions with interfaces as understood for saturated media, but also by capillary forces that govern the collection and mobilization of colloids along the air-water-solid interface. Biofilm formation will provide an entirely different mechanism for pathogen attachment and will significantly alter transport, limiting it in the near term but potentially increasing deep transport under transient flow events.