The following BMPs can reduce erosion and contamination of inflow water.
Watershed with Best Management Practices:
- Agricultural fields in annual cultivation are prone to wind and water erosion, particularly when residue cover is poor in winter and early spring. Soil surface protection practices are highly effective ways of preventing erosion:
- Seeding erodible land to perennial forages
- Using conservation tillage
- Maintaining crop residues in the fall
- Using winter cover crops
- Using crop rotations that follow low-residue crops with those with higher straw-yield.
- Practices that slow water runoff velocity and reduce water erosion:
- Grassing waterways
- Contour planting placing rows perpendicular to the slope of a field.
- Practices that slow wind velocity and reduce wind erosion:
- Strip farming consisting of alternating bands of annual and perennial crops.
- Planting and maintaining shelterbelts.
- The amount of fertilizers applied in a watershed can be minimized by proper nutrient management planning. Nutrient management is based on application of only enough fertilizer to make up the difference between the amount available in the soil and the crop requirement.
- Total amounts of pesticides applied to a watershed can be minimized through the principles of Integrated Pest Management or "IPM". IPM is a pest management system using the application of a variety of management practices and control measures.
- Remote watering systems prevent livestock from having direct access to a dugout, or to other areas in the watershed that directly contribute runoff to a dugout.
- Good manure management protects water from contamination. As with chemical fertilizers, manure should not be applied in quantities that provide plant nutrients in amounts that exceed crop requirements.
- Good livestock management prevents over-grazing, which can leave soils susceptible to erosion. This can be prevented by using a rotational grazing system.