Cade Higgins | The Lima News
LIMA — The Ohio State University-Lima showcased its research and development regarding soil health and water management to the USDA National Resource Conservation Service on Wednesday afternoon at the campus regenerative farm.
The representatives visited OSU-Lima to see drainage water recycling with the new retention pond.
Drainage water recycling is the practice of capturing excess water drained from fields, storing the drained water in a pond, a reservoir or a drainage ditch, and using the stored water to irrigate crops when there is a drought or water deficit.
The pond is 8 feet deep, covers three acres and took nearly a quarter of a million dollars to construct, excluding engineering services.
“We’re hoping to present some of our innovative water management practices to them,” said Vinayak Shedekar, an assistant professor at OSU-Lima and speaker, shortly before the event.
He added, “If this practice was to be adopted more widely, our water quality would be benefitted.”
Implementing this practice helps recycle nutrients back into the field where the crops can use them, providing a water quality benefit.
The biggest challenge as Shedekar explained has to do with funding.
“I’m hoping to have this conversation and for NRCS to incentivize the practice here and in the region,” he said.
He said the NRCS needed to see the project and gather more data to consider lending a hand to OSU-Lima.
As the presentation began, Shedkar spoke to the small crowd, giving an overview of what the drainage system was and what they were intending to do in the future with the water from the pond and the irrigation system.
“There is drainage water being collected in the pond, and the intention is to pump this water back into the irrigation system,” Shedekar said.
Shedekar also presented an automated drainage water management structure. The structure provides a more convenient way to release water if need be. For example, if multiple inches of rain fell in a short span of time, the structure could be programmed and used to release water from the pond before the rainfall so the pond doesn’t overflow.
Shedekar emphasized that Northwest Ohio has very few accessible groundwater resources. There are not enough rivers and very few ditches that have water throughout the summer months.
Representatives from the NRCS explained it was interesting to see the potential for improving water quality and fitting the niche for farmers while also mentioning the importance of climate change and the lack of water throughout the summer months.
Reach Cade Higgins at 567-242-0351
