Starkey Farms Bioreactor

Purpose: Drainage ditches are common throughout the Delmarva and have effectively drained land for agricultural purposes.  This project adapted denitrifying bioreactors to work with ditch water to reduce nitrogen pollution flowing out of two ditches.

Project:  Starkey farm in Ridgely, MD has an extensive ditch network that allows for the cultivation of spinach, sweet corn, lima beans, and soy beans.  The ditches have allowed the fields to be productive, but intercept groundwater and surface water that is high in nitrogen.  Near the outlet of two ditches denitrifying bioreactors have been installed that divert water from the ditches into a woodchip trench that has perfect conditions (low oxygen and carbon from the woodchips) to enhance denitrification, a natural process that converts nitrate-nitrogen into dinitrogen gas, a harmless gas that makes up approximately 78% of the Earth’s atmosphere.  The treated water then re-enters the ditch with lower nitrogen concentrations. 

Research at this site was completed by ShoreRivers in partnership with the United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Virginia Tech, and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the publication can be accessed at: https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/ael/pdfs/2/1/170032

Estimated Pollution Reductions:  200 lbs of Nitrogen annually.