Environmental Monitoring Equipment for Water Quality Monitoring and Agricultural Best Management Practice Research in the Muskrat Lake Watershed

位于彭布罗克的阿尔冈琴学院应用研究办公室领导着位于安大略伦弗鲁县的麝鼠湖流域的水质监测和农业最佳管理实践的实施。麝鼠湖流域是一个富营养化的流域，经历了频繁的蓝藻水华造成的营养盐污染。流域过去和目前的项目包括量化缓冲带的好处，安装和监测控制瓷砖排水，测试修复技术，测量作物生物量，进行土壤分析以进行养分管理，以及监测天气和气候条件。实施各种农业最佳管理做法是解决非点源污染的多管齐下的办法。污染途径广泛而多样，从地下水和地表径流到侵蚀和牛进入水道。解决多种途径的项目可以改善许多生态系统组成部分。为这些项目增加的实地监测设备将提高监测土壤、水、天气/气候和作物健康的能力，最终保障项目的继续，并支持在农业环境部门探索新项目。此外，该设备还将通过协助一家初创公司收集环境数据，探索在寒冷气候地区种植耐受性较低的葡萄藤品种的新方法和技术，来支持该流域的新葡萄栽培研究。

The Office of Applied Research at Algonquin College in Pembroke leads water quality monitoring and the implementation of agricultural best management practices in the Muskrat Lake watershed, located in the County of Renfrew, Ontario. The Muskrat Lake watershed is a eutrophic watershed experiencing frequent blue-green algae blooms resulting from nutrient pollution. Past and current projects in the watershed include quantifying the benefits of buffer strips, installing and monitoring controlled tile drainage, testing remediation technologies, measuring crop biomass, conducting soil analysis for nutrient management, and monitoring weather and climate conditions. Implementing a diversity of agricultural best management practices represents a multi-pronged approach to tackling non-point source pollution. Pollution pathways are broad and varied, from groundwater and surface runoff to erosion and cattle entering waterways. Projects that tackle multiple pathways can improve many ecosystem components. Additional field monitoring equipment for these projects will increase capabilities for monitoring soil, water, weather/climate, and crop health, ultimately safeguarding the continuation of projects and supporting the exploration of new projects in the agri-environmental sector. In addition, the equipment will support new viticulture research in the watershed by assisting a start-up company gather environmental data to explore new methods and techniques for growing less tolerant grapevine species in cold climate regions.