Nitrate Groundwater Monitoring

How do nitrates effect our groundwater and freshwater waterways?

There is major concern about the health of our freshwater rivers and aquifers and the role of intensive agriculture in climate change. Nitrogen can enter waterways as bought-in feed or as nitrogenous fertiliser. Plants take up the nitrogen, but there is more nitrogen in the grass than animals can use, so the excess is returned to the soil as urine, primarily in the ammonium form. Bacteria in the soil convert the ammonium nitrogen to nitrate-nitrogen which is highly soluble, these nitrates can easily leach through the soil into the groundwater.

Once in our groundwater, nitrates are very difficult to remove. Too much nitrogen in water, when combined with phosphorus, can contribute to nuisance growth of waterweed and algae. This can make water unsuitable for drinking and eventually leads to polluted lakes and rivers, waterways and groundwater.

Accurate and reliable nitrate sensors create live data

New IoT technology, combined with low-energy connectivity and improved sensors have made live reporting of nitrates possible for waterways. It is an easy process to install new nitrate sensors in any body of water on an agricultural property, this includes ponds, lakes, streams and rivers.

The sensors immediately start reporting live data to the Adroit Platform to give you continuous monitoring of nitrates in the waterways. You can monitor the effects of heavy rain, fertiliser phasing and stock levels. The challenge is using data to adapt and improve farming and business processes to reduce environmental impact, without reducing productivity. Rich data will play a key role in future decision making to improve waterway quality.