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UNCOMPAHGRE RIVER BASIN SELENIUM PHYTOREMEDIATION
Impact/Purpose:
The goal of this project is to demonstrate the feasibility of using agriculture crops and trees with economic value to remove selenium from soils and water and thereby reduce selenium loading from irrigated lands to underground drainage waters, and ultimately, to waters of the Uncompahgre and Gunnison Rivers.
Description:
The Uncompahgre River Basin Selenium Phytoremediation Project will evaluate the ability of selected agricultural crops and trees to accumulate and volatilize selenium from contaminated soils in the basin. Three different species of plants (two types will be campanion planted) and three different species of trees will be grown on test plots to determine which plant and tree species are the most effective at removing selenium from Mancos derived soils. Two separate. fourteen acre, areas will be utilized. Each area will contain two acre plots for each of the five plant and tree species and also two 0.2 acre control plots of base ground (one irrigated and one not irrigated). Irrigation practices will be closely managed and uniformly applied to the test areas. Soil samples will be collected from each of the plant and tree plots and the control plots prior to planting, during several stages of plant growth, and following harvest to determine the concentrations of selenium at various soil horizons throughout each of the plots and at various times. In addition to identifying which plant and tree species are most effective at reducing soil selenium, each species will also be evaluated for its ability to grow in the soils and climatic conditions in the Uncompahgre River Basin and for its economic value as an agricultural or industrial crop in western Colorado. Such information will provide important guidelines for the implementation of best management practices and selenium remediation in the watershed.
