Drainage water storage for improved resiliency and environmental performance of agricultural landscapes

Drained lands, which include some of the most productive lands in the world, can experience both water excess and water deficit within a year. Storing drained water within the landscape could increase the sustainability of water for agriculture, particularly as intense rainfall and prolonged summer drought continue to increase under future climate change. A team of researchers and extension specialists from nine states are currently working towards a vision of transforming the process of designing and implementing agricultural drainage to include storage through the use of controlled drainage, saturated buffers, and drainage water recycling (i.e. capture, storage, and reuse). Field research data from experimental drainage sites from across the U.S. Corn Belt have been brought together in a database to support synthesis and modeling to determine economic and environmental impacts of drainage water storage. Results from this effort will extend the strategies and tools to agricultural producers, the drainage industry, watershed managers, agencies, and policy makers, and educate the next generation of engineers and scientists to design drainage systems that include water storage in the landscape.