Chemical fertilizers necessary to sustain the agricultural practices on campus are significant sources of waterway pollution downstream from UIUC. These pollutants, primarily in the form of nitrate, can contaminate drinking water, leading to health concerns such as blue-baby syndrome. Furthermore, nitrate pollution also promotes the growth of toxic algal blooms that reduce oxygen availability in the water, causing eutrophic “dead-zones” such as that in the Gulf of Mexico (pictured right).

This project is proposing building two “Nitrate Monitoring Stations” that will continuously monitor the flow of water and agricultural pollutants. These stations will be able to transmit the data they collect remotely, allowing easy access to for UIUC students and community members. The first monitoring station will be located at the exit point for all water from the UIUC South Farm watershed (see the star at the bottom of the image below) and the second will be at the exit point for water flowing from the Animal Science Dairy Facility (a hot-spot for nitrate runoff). These locations were selected based on the need to represent the whole watershed, as well as collecting targeted information nitrate reduction potential (largest “bang for the buck”.)