Abstract
A drainage ditch is normally a component of drainage networks in farming systems to remove surplus water, but at the same time, it may act as a major conduit of agricultural nonpoint source pollutions such as sediment, nitrogen, phosphorus, and so on. The hybrid turbidity reduction system using biodegradable check dam and synthetic polymer was developed in this study to manage pollutant discharge from agricultural farmlands during rainfall events and/or irrigation periods. The performance of this hybrid system was assessed using a laboratory open channel sized in 10m-length and 0.2m-width. Various check dams using agricultural byproducts (e.g., rice straw, rice husks, coconut fiber and a mixture of rice husks and coconut fiber) were tested and additional physical factors (e.g., channel slope, flowrate, PAM dosage, turbidity level, etc.) affecting on turbidity reduction were applied to assess their performance. A series of lab experiments clearly showed that the hybrid turbidity reduction system could play a significant role as a supplementary of Best Management Practice (BMP). Moreover, the findings of this study could facilitate to develop an advanced BMP for minimizing nonpoint source pollution from agricultural farmlands and ultimately to achieve the sustainable agriculture.
