The drawn-out drought and Georgia’s battle with its neighbors
over water rights accent the need to manage water better. And
recent research has found a way farmers can do that to help
protect the water that flows through their farms.
Agriculture is the state’s largest industry. It can also be a
major contributor to water pollution. In large quantities,
essential elements in farming such as nitrogen, phosphorus and
pesticides become toxic to streams. Eroding soil can be deadly,
too.
But George Vellidis, a University of Georgia researcher, said
farmers can help. By enhancing the streamside forests, they can
create protective barriers between the state’s delicate
waterways
and the potentially harmful materials they use in their
fields.
“Resources out of place become pollution,” said Vellidis, a UGA
associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering.
“With this (research) we’re looking at water quality and how
much
agriculture is affecting it.”
At the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, Ga., Vellidis
worked along with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to see how
well these riparian, or streamside, buffer zones work in
Georgia.
Riparian Forest
A riparian forest is an area of trees, shrubs and herbaceous
plants next to and upslope from a stream or waterway. Vellidis
said nature has its own way of dealing with potential pollutants
when given a chance. This organic buffer zone slows down harmful
runoff from fields into streams. It gives nature a chance to
safely absorb and deal with them.
The buffer zone allows bacteria in the soil to convert harmful
nitrates dissolved in groundwater into harmless nitrogen gas.
And
the root system of the forest controls eroding soil that could
become stream-choking sediment.
This type of forest is also an investment for landowners. Part
of
it can be planted in trees. Harvesting these from time to time
brings extra cash flow from the land.
Natural Buffers
Many streams in south Georgia have these buffers naturally.
Vellidis said this is a major reason why the quality of the
water
there is relatively good. As you move into southwestern Georgia,
these natural buffers occur less.
Riparian forests don’t fight pollution just on farms. In north
Georgia, he said, urban sediment is the No. 1 pollutant in
streams.
Because of the sloping landscape, runoff quickly finds its way
into urban waterways. By studying the hydrology of this area,
scientists could construct a riparian buffer zone to battle
misplaced resources.
Buffer Zones Work
These riparian buffers, he said, have proven to work in other
parts of the country. The Chesapeake Bay was being polluted by
dairy farming in Pennsylvania and row crop farming in Maryland.
An initiative was started seven years ago, he said, to construct
buffer forests in these states.
“We know the research works,” he said. “We are now moving away
from the research and into demonstration, and into the public’s
mind.”
The Riparian Buffer Initiative was started with 24 on-farm
demonstration sites in Georgia. The sites show how the buffer
zones work with major farming operations.
Funding
Farmers and landowners can get funding through the Conservation
Reserve Program to establish riparian buffer zones on their
land.
The program gives farmers financial incentives to place land
under conservation protection.
Vellidis said the economic incentive is often not great enough
for farmers to take land out of production. Through the
Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, a state can offer
greater incentives for farmers to take critical land out of
production and into conservation. But Georgia has not yet
applied
for this program.
For more information about the CRP, landowners should call their
local Farm Service Agency.
