Time-lapse video of the construction of a bioreactor in the Elk Run Watershed near Carroll, Iowa. The Bioreactor will treat water from a 30-acre area in the Elk Run watershed near Carroll, Iowa. Bioreactors remove about 43 percent of the nitrates in water and last 10 to 15 years.
This video shows what happens below the ground to remove nitrates from water when bioreactors are used. Buried woodchips are the key to a bioreactor. The video was produced in 2012 by the Missouri & Mississippi Divide RC&D and supported by a grant from the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS).
Subsurface drainage makes Iowa's productive fields possible, but also impacts Iowa's water quality, in particular by carrying nitrate into streams and rivers. The Midwest contributes heavily to the growing hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. This video explores the process of constructing a woodchip denitrification bioreacter in Iowa.
Bioreactor
Description
Bioreactors are excavated pits filled with woodchips that filter tile drainage water. As water from the tile line passes through the woodchips, denitrifying bacteria converts nitrates in the tile water into di-nitrogen gas.
Benefits
Bioreactors treat up to 100 acres of tile-drained land. The average bioreactor reduces nitrates by 43 percent.
