Figure 1: Shaft installation for a soil monitoring station on an agricultural area
Five monitoring stations are being operated as part of the WaRM project. Four stations are used to investigate reactive substance transport processes via the unsaturated zone into the groundwater. These stations consist of a 3 m deep shaft and a series of measuring and sampling devices. The investigations here focus on both reactive nitrogen species and pesticides. At another station, the input of nitrate and a wide range of organic trace substances from ditches influenced by treated wastewater discharges into the groundwater is investigated. The core element of this installation is a close-meshed grouping of measuring point bundles and sensors filtered at different depths. All locations for the stations have been determined, one soil monitoring station is already in operation and the shafts for two further soil monitoring stations have been installed. In addition, special stainless steel suction plates are currently being built for leachate sampling. The aim is to complete the installation of all stations by the end of October 2023.
Status: 01.09.2023
Figure 2: Schematic representation of a soil monitoring station
Source: Richard-Cerda, J. C., Giber, A., Muñoz-Vega, E., Kübeck, C., Berthold, G., Schüth, C. & Schulz, S. (2022). A high-resolution monitoring station for the in-situ assessment of nitrate-related redox processes at an agricultural site. Journal of Environmental Quality. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20423
Video: Construction of a monitoring station
(created by TU Darmstadt, AG Hydrogeology)
