Team:
Gerd Schmidt
Michael Steininger
Daniel Wurbs
Duration: 2010-2012
In the course of implementing the measures of the EU Water Framework Directive, the Land of Saxony-Anhalt plans to protect against the surface discharge of substances from arable land into watercourses by establishing watercourse protection strips (filter and retention areas in the form of flower strips) and permanent conservation tillage as a support measure for agricultural enterprises. These measures are intended to prevent runoff from arable land into watercourses and to minimise surface runoff on arable land. The theoretical protection potential of these measures is known from a large number of model considerations. However, in order to estimate the efficiency of the support measures, a site-specific, long-term recording of the effects of the protective measures on material displacement must be carried out. For the loess sites in Saxony-Anhalt, where the focus of the above-mentioned support measures lies, monitoring of sediment displacement and spills into watercourses as a result of erosion events under different protective measures (conservation, protective strips) is to be carried out on selected areas of arable land. At the same time, the qualification and application of a dynamic erosion model is planned in order to enable the transfer of findings on the effect of protective measures to larger area units (catchment area) based on the site-related results of the monitoring. Based on the results of the monitoring, the effect of the protective measures on the level of material displacement due to soil erosion will be analysed, proposals for optimising the protective measures will be developed and ultimately the efficiency of the support measures will be evaluated.