October 27, 2021 Issue, Page 4 of 10

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Agriculture October 27, 2021 Cracking the case on rural well water ter levels,” said Kevin Wagner, / ed to the facility in Stillwater expensive screening test for from county OSU Extension drinking water at only $15 per the center’s director. “After offices across the state and are sample. If the water is suspect, the homeowners receive their categorized into three areas: it can be tested for E. coli and results, we'll host a one-hour livestock use, irrigation and other harmful elements at a educational session on how to household/general use. certified lab available through interpret the test levels. We'll f “All three tests measure nitrate levels and many other a private entity, county health department or the Oklahoma discuss the effects of these lev- els and next steps for address- elements,” said Hailin Zhang, Department of Environmental ing any water issues.” the lab’s longtime director. Quality. Rural water service is a public utility. Residents with “Nitrates in irrigation water To submit a water sample rural water are guaranteed an are a good thing because a ni- to a county Extension office ample supply of clean, safe wa- trate is a nutrient that crops for testing in Stillwater, Zhang ter by law for their households canuse.” recommends taking certain and other needs. But residents If the water is intended for steps. depending on a private well are household use, nitrate levels “Before retrieving water, 100% responsible for the man- of more than 10 parts per mil- the well should be bailed out agement, quality and testing of lion are deemed unsafe. How- to let it recharge instead of col- their water. ever, the standard nitrate level lecting water that’s been sit- “We hope this program in water for livestock is much ting a long time,” he said. “If fills that gap for residents who higher than that allowed for the water is from a faucet, let need assistance in determining human consumption. it run a few minutes, collect if their water is safe to drink,” “Water quality varies so some and let it run a few more Wagner said. Some well water in rural of the state may test high in nitrates or other harmful minutes before collecting more much,” Zhang said. “If there His goal is to test at least materials. (Photo by Todd Johnson, OSU Agricultural Communications Services) are multiple wells on one piece for the final sample.” 100 water samples and identi- of land, you will see very dras- Water screening in 2022 fy the percentage of those with tic differences in water qual- The Oklahoma Water Re- high bacteria, dissolved solids, By Gail Elis Extension supports research homa Rural Water Associa~ ity.” sources Center at OSU plans nitrate and arsenic levels. The conducted by faculty and sci- tion. “Rural Oklahoma's active ‘Wells are sometimes aban- to launch a pilot program in program also presents an op- farming and animal feeding portunity to conduct a quick STILLWATER. - For rural entists at the Oklahoma Water doned if the water is poor spring 2022 to gauge residents’ survey among homeowners residents who rely on their Resources Center to help rural operations may, in some cases, quality. The water pumped in need for water well testing and to determine their interest in own wells for household use, residents address well water cause private wells to test high western and central Oklahoma education. In partnership with participation. testing is often the only line concerns. A survey conducted in nitrates. Many individual is high in salt and salinity. In two county Extension offices, “If this is something water of defense in protecting fami- by the center in 2020 indicated wells are shallower in very eastern Oklahoma the water the center will offer free well well owners would want or find lies and animals from unsafe the quality of drinking water sandy or porous soil, allowing tends to be more desirable for water screening. The project value in, we'll start building drinking water. was the top water resources is- things to like nitrates to infil- drinking because of the geol- will be facilitated by two stu- a larger statewide program,” Individual well systems sue among state residents, and trate through to the ground- ogy ofthe area and higher rain- dents in the OSU environmen- Wagner said. that populate Oklahoma's ru- less than 15% of participants water a lot quicker.” fall amounts that frequently tal science undergraduate pro Fact sheets detailing ad- ral landscape can potentially said they test their drinking Water resources at OSU recharge the groundwater. gram. ditional information about run dry, become contaminated water. Every week, hundreds Zhang said his lab team “We will look for bacteria the topic are available online from a flood or nearby septic “If you're putting a well on- of water tests are processed most often conducts water and also things like arsenic, and through OSU Extension system, or contain harmful line, you need to test for bacte- through OSU's Soil, Water and testing and analysis for live- nitrate and total dissolved county offices. Learn more levels of nitrates and miner- ria and disinfect the well,” said Forage Analytical Laboratory. stock and irrigation purposes, solids to check if it is below or about Oklahoma's rural water als. Oklahoma State University Jeannie Shurbet at the Okla- Most of the samples are rout- but the lab also has an in- above standard drinking wa- systems. OSU receives $2.6 million grant to study regenerative agriculture environmental soil chemistry health and hydrology-related data produced under the NIFA = collaborate on an asynchro- processes,” Mirchi said. “Al- grant will likely yield more re- nous, online transdisciplinary though you might want to try search opportunities, as well problem-based course entitled, everything in the real world, it as additional benefits to Okla- Regenerative Agriculture in can be very expensive and take Semi-arid Ecosystems, which avery, very long time with alot homa and similar areas around will be integrated into under- of manpower. the world. graduate and graduate courses “It’s significant that we'll The grant is part of the at OSU. have colleagues in the field col- USDA's recent investment of Alex Rocateli, OSU Exten- lecting data on various fronts more than $146 million in sus- sion specialist, forage systems and working directly with pro- tainable agricultural research ~ develop forage systems and ducers and other stakehold- projects aimed at improving implement demonstrations ers,” Mirchi said. a robust, resilient, climate- in producer and experimental Wagner said carbon seques- smart food and agricultural station fields, as well as assist tration will also be a factor to with outreach and Extension consider, or how regenerative system. NIFA’s Sustainable Oklahoma State University researchers are working on a five-year project funded by the programs. practices help improve the Agricultural Systems pro- USDA Institute of Food and Agriculture, focusing on regenerative agriculture for crops Sumit Sharma, OSU Ex- soil's ability to hold moisture gram focuses on a broad base such as cotton. (Photo by Todd Johnson, OSU Agricultural Communications Services) tension specialist, irrigation and help Oklahoma reduce its of needed research solutions, management ~ establish cover ranging from addressing la- carbon footprint, leading to a more resilient ecosystem. Over bor challenges and promoting crop experiments at the Okla- ByBrian Brus grant. specialist, has plans for a soil time, those changes also may homa Panhandle Research and “Regenerative agriculture stewardship education pro- Extension Center in Goodwell, lead to higher levels of agricul- land stewardship to correcting STILLWATER. - Oklahoma is really a hot topic right now gram similar to the structure Oklahoma. tural intensification and great- climate change impacts in ag- State University has received across much of the country,” of the popular Master Irriga- Many members of the team er profitability. riculture and critical needs in more than $2.6 million to re- said Wagner, the project's prin- tor Program for farmers, and also will be involved in arrang- “It's one of the aspects that food and nutrition. search ways to improve agri- cipal investigator at OSU. “Our a curriculum will be adapted ing regional on-farm field days attracted me to this project, “USDA is tackling urgent cultural production while re- goal is to find ways to not only for regional 4-H Youth Devel- and large, multi-state confer- because I've long been inter- challenges facing American ducing environmental impacts, sustain production but also opment summer programs as ences hosted in Texas and ested in soil health and how agriculture and communities said Kevin Wagner, director of improve the land and other re- well. Oklahoma for disseminating it impacts water resources at across our nation,” Secretary the Oklahoma Water Resourc- sources at the same time.” Among his efforts, Wagner research results. a watershed or regional scale. es Center at Oklahoma State Most research on regenera- will monitor the quantity and Additionally, Ali Mirchi, as- Most prior research has fo- of Agriculture Tom Vilsack University. tive agriculture has typically quality of runoff water from sistant professor in the OSU cused on the benefits at the said. “Critical issues like food It will require a holistic ap- occurred in regions of the U.S. fields where regenerative prac- Department of Biosystems and field scale, but we need to take insecurity, drought resilience proach, Wagner said. Climate, with 40 to 50 inches of rain an- tices have been implemented, Agricultural Engineering, will a wider view,” he said. and response, animal disease livestock grazing, crop rota- nually, a factor that significant- lead the modeling team and as- use data collected by the re- “With better ground cover prevention and market dis- tion, hydrology, regional eco- ly affects research outcomes. sist with stakeholder engage- search team to develop models and soil management, we hope ruption require investments nomics and more - the systems Less study has been focused mentand outreach. In addition to evaluate the watershed scale to confirm with this research to help meet these challenges. in regenerative agriculture are on areas like southwest Okla- to Wagner and Warren, there effects of regenerative practic- that there will be less water ‘This is the time for agriculture, just too large, complex and homa and the Oklahoma-Texasare several other key OSU re- es, The Agricultural Policy/En- running off and that the runoff intertwined for a simple solu- panhandles, which have more searchers whose work will vironmental eXtender (APEX) will be cleaner. In particular, forestry and rural communi- tion. variable, arid conditions and overlap in many areas. A sam- model will be used to predict we'll be evaluating integrat- ties to act. Together, we can To that end, OSU research- wholly different challenges in ple of those efforts include: effects of management deci- ing cover crops and grazing of lead the way with investments ers will work closely with Texas managing livestock and crops, Seth Byrd, OSU Extension sions on soil loss, water qual- those cover crops into cotton in science and research and cli- A&M AgriLife Research at Tex- cotton in particular. specialist, cotton agronomy — ity and crop yields at the field production systems and deter- mate-smart solutions that feed as A&M University and other Although the scope of work assess practices in continuous scale. mining how that benefits soils, and nourish families, improve universities in the region on under the grant is expansive cotton production systems to “With the field data col- water and production,” Wagner the profitability and resilience a five-year project funded by with several multi-year com- achieve agricultural intensifi- lected, we'll be able to develop said. of producers, improve forest the U.S. Department of Agri- ponents, Wagner said some cation, greater profitability and models so that in a computer The OSU project encom- aspects will benefit producers improved climate resiliency. health, while creating new in- culture National Institute of environment we can evaluate passes short-term, medium- Food and Agriculture. OSU will right away. For example, Ja- ‘Andrea Jilling, OSU De- a large number of scenarios in term and long-term goals over come opportunities and build- receive more than $2.6 million son Warren, OSU Extension partment of Plant and Soil a time-efficient, cost-effective the next five years. However, ing wealth that stays in rural of the $10 million competitive soil and water conservation Sciences associate professor, way to look at impacts on soil Wagner and Mirchi said the communities.”