The Secret Global Sewer System
Ditches and drain pipes help crops survive but can negatively impact the broader landscape.
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Show Notes
To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
- Waterlog - to saturate (a field) with water; a problem for most crops
- Drainage - the removal of liquid (water) from an area
- Ditch - a narrow channel dug in the ground, typically used for drainage alongside a road or the edge of a field
- Drain tile - a pipe buried (beneath a field) for drainage. Originally made of ceramic tiles, now typically of corrugated plastic
- Precision agriculture - putting corn seed + small dose of fertilizer/pesticides in hole in ground
- Controlled drainage - the use of a water control structure to raise the depth of a drain tile outlet to hold water in the field when drainage isn't needed
- Wood chip bioreactor - an underground trench filled with wood chips that provide carbon for bacteria that denitrify the water flowing through it
- Saturated buffer - a strip on the edge of a field filled with plants & bacteria that can remove some nitrogen from the water flowing onto it from drain tiles
- Denitrification - the removal of nitrogen from a substance (soil, air, or water) by chemical reduction, typically via bacteria
- Wetland - an area of land where water covers the soil year-round or at certain times of year
- Ecosystem services - the free benefits humans get from natural ecosystems
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