Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences ,  Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering , Lithuanian Institute of Water Management

NON-POINT SOURCE POLLUTION CONTROL IN THE UPPER LIELUPE RIVER BASIN

(SIAULIAI ENVIRONMENT PROJECT) 

FINAL REPORT 

Full Final Report (PDF format 1045 KB !)

SUMMARY

Siauliai Environment Project B component 'Environmental Management' was initiated and financed by the World Bank and the Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian governments. The B component was made of some projects that had an aim to help the Siauliai regional environmental protection department to improve environmental management in the region.

The Swedish Government financed the project Non-Point Source Pollution Control in the Upper Lielupe River Basin, estimate of the project comprises 2 248 500 Swedish krona (900 thousands Lt). The project was implemented by the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences together with the Swedish Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering and the Lithuanian Institute of Water Management, administrated by the Siauliai regional environmental protection department. The project started in 1999 year, finished in 2000 year. 

For the implementation of the project, Bariunai agricultural company was selected as a demonstration farm in the upper Lielupe river basin. In the company it was intended to introduce an advanced manure and slurry handling technology, install a water quality monitoring post and groundwater boreholes to determine sewage leakage from the territory of barns. In a field crop rotation there were planned trials of balanced crop fertilisation and installation of a monitoring post to trace nutrient losses. There were plans that the farm after implementation of these measures would take part in demonstration and education activities, disseminate the gain experience among farmers and agricultural companies. 

Animal husbandry is an intensively developed agricultural branch on this farm. The Bariunai farm keeps about 1100 animal units, 490 whereof are cows, 1700 - pigs and 43 - horses. 

The farm had reconstructed animal barns but manure handling remained in a very poor conditions. A manure pad was too small, slurry from the barn and the manure pad leaked out to the fields and tile drainage, the slurry amount of only one day fitted to the slurry pit (picture 1).

According to the project terms, SIDA financed procurement of materials and equipment for installation of the manure handling system that complies requirements of the European Union Nitrates Directive. The farm had to reconstruct the manure pad, slurry reservoir, install a pumping station and put in good order barn territory so that surface water not polluted with manure would run into the tile drainage system. Taking into consideration project financing, possibilities of the farm and state of the barns, it was decided to build the manure storage at the biggest barn, which contains 430 cows.

The drainage water monitoring post was installed at the crossing of two drainage collectors so that it would be possible to monitor water quality separately. Area of the drainage system before the post is 24.1 ha. Water from the drainage system gets into the Audruve river and later to the Lielupe. Two boreholes of 6 m depth are installed at the manure storage pad in order to monitor groundwater.

Design and building of the manure storage started in autumn 1999 year. Building and equipment assembling works were finished in spring 2001 year. With help of calculations it was determined that 400 cows barn requires 3000 m3 slurry reservoir in order to store the slurry 6 months. Cost outlay of such manure storage is 1020 thousands Lt. SIDA allocated 200 thousands Lt for building material and equipment of the manure storage, the farm added the same amount by its labour and technique; therefore we had to limit ourselves by constructing the manure pad, one slurry reservoir and putting in order surface water runoff.

Slurry from the manure pad and wastewater from the milking parlour flow to a collector pit freely. An automatic immersed pump of FLYGT firm was installed in order to pump the slurry from the collector pit to the reservoir. Slurry reservoir (tankage thereof is 1025 m3) was filled in three months (picture 4).

The pump TP 270 of the firm AlfaLaval was bought to mix and pump the slurry from the reservoir. A band spreader with trailing hoses was mounted at the slurry tank-truck MZT-6 (picture 5) to take out and spread the slurry. 

The manure storage was constructed and put into exploitation in spring 2000 year. In summer 2000 year the slurry reservoir was built, it was used for the first time in spring 2001 year. The system functions well, but at least one more reservoir should be built in order to store slurry six months and a bigger slurry spreader (tankage of 10-15 m3) is needed. 

The water quality investigations at the cow-barn showed that groundwater is not polluted but the tile drainage water before installation of the manure handling system was very contaminated. The drainage water quality has improved considerably after installation of the manure storage and putting in order surface water runoff (picture 6).

In order to monitor crop rotation and fertilisation effect a tile drainage system of 116 ha in Melniai village was selected (picture 7). Nutrient balance was calculated for this field, various calculation methods of fertilisation plans were tried; balanced fertilisation according to the requirements of the Code of Good Agricultural Practices was applied. Farming is more intensive in the Bariunai agricultural company than the average in Lithuania. 
Fertiliser use and the nutrient balance are given in table 1.

1 table. Fertiliser use and nutrient balance in the Bariunai AC 

Nutrient balance was positive in 1999 and 2000 years. The added amount of nitrogen was bigger than the utilised amount by 85, of phosphorus - by 11.2 and of potassium - by 50.8 kg/ha on average (in terms of pure ingredient). 90.6 kg of nitrogen, 28.7 kg of phosphorus and 84.8 kg of potassium were taken with harvest from one hectare on average. Crop productivity in 1999 and 2000 years is given in table 2.

2 table. Crop productivity in 1999 and 2000 years 

The phosphorus and potassium norms applied on the farm are close to the ones calculated by the ecologically and environmentally balanced fertilisation programme made by academician A.Svedas. However, the nitrogen fertilisation norms are too high for the present yield. Therefore, phosphorus and potassium concentration in the drainage water is not high, but nitrogen concentration is usually bigger than the norm allowed for surface water (the allowed minimal concentration of nitrate nitrogen is 10 and of total nitrogen - 2 mg/l). The nitrogen concentration dynamics in the drainage water is given in picture 8. 

The high nitrogen concentration in the drainage water shows that agrotechnique on the farm should be improved and the nitrogen fertilisation norms should be reduced. The fact that the nitrogen fertilisation norms are too high is also confirmed by the nutrient balance calculations (the average nitrogen surplus is 85 kg/ha).

The advantages and disadvantages of project implementation 

1. Having arranged a manure storage, solid manure is stored in a better way. There is no need to remove it every week. The capacity of the existing manure storage is 3 months (considering the number of animals at present). In order to store manure 6 months another slurry reservoir is needed. There is a need for similar manure storages at the calves-barn and the piggery. Not smaller support from state and international funds as in this project is needed to install the manure storages. 
2. Having constructed the slurry reservoir it is not necessary to remove the slurry every day. Therefore, the tractor, which was used for this work, may be applied elsewhere. A slurry tank-truck of the tankage not less than 10 m3 is needed to remove and spread the slurry. 
3. Two educational seminars about the implementation of the Code of Good Agricultural Practices on the Bariunai agricultural company were organized for environmental specialists and farmers of Siauliai region. The problems concerning the realization of this project were discussed during the seminars. The farmers and heads of agricultural companies were informed about the ecological requirements for big livestock farms, and how these requirements should be fulfilled. The Bariunai AC was presented as a leader in this field.
4. The water pollution monitoring post arranged near the cow-barn helped to determine the pollution source and gave favorable conditions to control the pollution level constantly.
5. Due to the monitoring post arranged in the crop rotation field, there was a possibility to determine nutrient leaching to the tile drainage system. When soil analyses were performed and fertilization norms calculated according to the programme prepared by academician A.Svedas, the nitrogen fertilization norms were reduced. 
6. The manure and slurry management works would have never been started without the SIDA financial support and initiative of the specialists who participated in the project.

Acknowledgement

The administration of the Bariunai Agricultural Company expresses its gratitude to the Swedish consultants, scientists of the Lithuanian Institute of Water Management and environmental specialists of the Siauliai Regional Department for their cooperation and support in the realization of this project.