“Sustainable phosphorus capture: integrating byproduct-based filters into edge-of-field practices”

Funded by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission 2026-2030, co-led by Dr. Jaime Schussler and me (Mary)

This 5-year project will address phosphorus pollution to the Illinois River Watershed through design, construction, testing, and education for an edge-of-field biofilter using byproduct media. The first year and a half will include literature review, site identification, hydrological and preliminary water quality assessment for the site, laboratory column byproduct media testing, and biofilter design applying existing modeling software. At the conclusion of the second year, we will install and instrument the demonstrative field-scale biofilter based on the design developed to that point. The final three years of the project will include continuous monitoring of the field biofilter to understand temporal variability and longevity of this practice, laboratory media threshold testing to understand longevity of individual media, and education for community members and students on how biofilters may be used to address nutrient pollution in this region. Overall, this project will provide critical performance data related to biofilters using byproduct media in the Illinois River Watershed.