Water Quality and Drainage water.

Removing excess water from cropland is an ancient practice.  It has been refined to a point of great efficiency in Europe and the United States.  Cropland drainage was developed with little or no thought to its effect on downstream water quality.  In recent years, with hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and reduce water quality in general, researchers and the public are taking a look at how we can improve the quality of our drainage water.  Farmers may see this  in a negative light, however, with the beating agriculture takes regarding water quality, we should be looking at what we can do to improve the quality of our drainage water.  In a short but thorough article in the the November December, 2010 issue of the Soil and Water Conservation Society Journal, Strock, Kleinman, King and Delgado look at the many ways of improving the quality of the water as it leaves the farm.  I cannot improve on the article or condense it.  It is worth the read at this Link.