Custom Designed Rain Garden

Plan of Action for Water Quality Management

     An effective water management plan will help minimize the agricultural impact of horse farms on local streams, lakes, groundwater, and other water sources. It should employ Best Management Practices (BMPs) wherever possible to prevent clean runoff from becoming contaminated, minimize the amount of contamination caused by agricultural operations, and capture and treat contaminated runoff before it can reach nearby water bodies. As with any plan, careful monitoring and performance evaluation over time will help determine its effectiveness, as well as indicate areas where improvement may be needed.

Elements of a good water quality management plan would include:

• Runoff controls to direct runoff away from potential contamination sources such as manure storage areas.
   
• Piping of relatively clean roof runoff through an infiltration trench in order to provide as much groundwater recharge as possible. Flows in excess of infiltration capacity would be routed to a bioretention basin.
   
• Routing of drainage through biofiltration swales to encourage infiltration and provide initial settling of suspended solids.
   
• Fences to restrict horses from open water swale areas and prevent direct contamination.
   
• Drainage swales protected by riparian vegetative buffers that act as filter strips to provide initial settling and filtration.
   
• Bioretention basins to provide filtration and treatment before discharge to drainage swales and the environment.

Bioswales are landscape elements designed to remove silt and pollution from surface runoff water.Swales such as this one will be installed at the Ryders Lane facility. Click the image above to open a large version.

     For the purposes of this farm, the flow from the central biofiltration swale will be split and routed into two calibrated and instrumented swales that can be modified to compare the performance of various treatment options (soil media, plants, etc.) on the same runoff. This scientific study will allow easy-to-implement treatment options to be developed and distributed to New Jersey’s farm managers through the project’s outreach component.

Information on NJDEP Wetlands Regulations

     Below are some resources which give information on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) regulations that affect agricultural operations.

Stormwater Runoff Paddock Drainage System

     The work completed at the site consisted of:

The initial trench along south side of the paddock area. Click for a larger image.

1. An underground drainage system which was constructed to eliminate contact between clean roof drainage and water that drains from the paddock area.

 

2. A drainage system which was constructed to allow rain water to infiltrate during small storms and drain to a downstream bioretention basin during larger storms.

     The piping system consists of perforated 4” PVC pipes laid in a 1’ bed of clean ¾” stone. This project has been very successful in reducing the amount of mud and transport of fecal material out of the paddock area. It represents a relatively simple, inexpensive and effective strategy for reducing contaminated runoff and maintaining the structural quality of a paddock area.

Photos

Drainage trench with horizontal PVC pipes in a bed of 3/4" stone, including roof leader connections

Dry lot paddock area post-construction

Custom Designed Rain Garden

      Rain gardens are gardens specifically designed to soak up rain water mainly from roofs, but also from driveways and lawns. In cooperation with the Equine Science Center, the Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program designed and installed a rain garden for the paddock area on the southeast corner of the barn at the Ryders Lane Facility. The rain garden will help remove nutrients that wash through the manure in horse paddocks due to storms.

During dry spells, rain gardens should be watered manually to maintain plant growth. Click for a larger image.

The rain garden will filter the nutrients in water runoff coming through the adjacent horse paddock. Click for a larger image.

Our rain garden contains the following plants:

• Sweet pepper bush
• Switchgrass
• Purple coneflower
• Arrow-wood vibernum
• New York aster
• Inkberry Holly
• Winterberry Holly

     Learn More About Rain Gardens

     Rain Garden Fact Sheet