Overview of the Ohio Management Systems Evaluation Area

The Ohio Buried Valley Aquifer Management System Evaluation Area (Ohio MSEA) project is part of a regional study developed to investigate the effects of farming systems on productivity, profitability, and water quality. Leadership for the project is being provided by a cooperative effort between The Ohio State University, USDA-ARS, and USGS. The Ohio MSEA will examine three agricultural practices; continuous corn, a corn-soybean rotation, and a corn-soybean-wheat/cover rotation. The main objectives of the Ohio MSEA are the development of improved agricultural management systems, and the development of practical predictive models for identifying site specific water quality impacts, production levels, and profitability of agricultural management systems. The Ohio MSEA overlies the Scioto buried valley aquifer and is typical of unconfined glacialfluvial and alluvial deposits in the glaciated region. Extensive testing over the last twenty years has been completed on the hydrogeology of the aquifer underlying the MSEA site. As part of the Ohio MSEA project, 22 multi-port sampling wells have been installed in and around the 50 ha site to monitor water quality at up to 108 sampling locations. Water samples will be taken from each of the sampling locations and analyzed for nitrogen, atrazine, alachlor, pH, dissolved oxygen, oxidation-reduction potential, electrical conductivity, and temperature.