Why?
The
storage and containment of farm animal manures and silage is now an urgent issue for the Agricultural
Industry in Northern Ireland. Legislation from the EU and UK parliaments
is now in place, which will impose restrictions on every aspect of storage, handling and disposal of
animal manures and effluents. The evidence for constructed wetland contaminant removal
from agricultural waste waters is inconclusive.
Detail
- Five
ponds
- Covers area of 1.5 hectares
- Located at the College of
Agriculture Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus
- Farmyard dirty
water containing parlour washings, grass silage clamp and concrete cattle walkways run-off, piped into
wetlands
- Pollutants trapped in plant root systems and pond sediment
- Major
pollution threat is the five day Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD5)
- Maximum BOD5 limit
of farmyard dirty water is 2000 mg/l
Monitoring
the wetlands - detailed measurements
- Daily
inflow and outflow rates
- Soil and water nutrient levels
- Pathogen
(coliform) counts
- Changes
in BOD levels
- Changes in pond vegetation
Result
Study
ongoing at present.
