{"id":29010,"date":"2018-04-10T11:12:48","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T15:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?p=29010"},"modified":"2025-02-17T14:27:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T18:27:05","slug":"bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm","title":{"rendered":"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The term \u201cbioreactor\u201d might conjure up the image of a reactor that initiates and sustains some sort of mysterious biological chain reaction using biological fuel rather than splitting atoms. In fact, a bioreactor is any system engineered to support a biologically active environment. In the case of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, ditches holding woodchips that enhance the natural denitrification process are bioreactors, and they are helping to remove excess nitrogen from agricultural runoff to protect the watershed.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #808080;\">Bioreactors in action<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cropsciences.illinois.edu\/directory\/lechris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Laura Christianson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois, corresponded with EM about <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/doi:10.2134\/ael2017.09.0032\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the research<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Christianson and her research team study how effectively various kinds of bioreactors remove nitrogen from water. While they are already used often in the Midwest, the team wanted to test bioreactors in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDenitrification happens naturally in soils all around the world,\u201d details Christianson. \u201cIn a field, this process needs carbon, which our Midwest soils are typically high in, and the field needs to be saturated. In a bioreactor, we simply borrow this idea and design the bioreactor to maximize this process. By adding woodchips, we give the natural denitrifying bacteria even more carbon than they would ever have access to in the surrounding soil. These bacteria only do their job under saturated conditions, or low oxygen conditions, so we use control structures to hold the water long enough within the woodchips to allow these conditions to develop and give the bacteria sufficient hydraulic retention time\u2014enough time to do their job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These mini nitrogen processing plants are perfect for cleaning water of nitrate because the carbon-rich woodchips give natural bacteria that do the cleaning plenty to eat.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe woodchips serve as a carbon source for the denitrifying bacteria,\u201d Christianson describes. \u201cJust like us, these little guys eat carbon. It is likely that other bacteria and fungi are involved in breaking down the complex carbon molecules inside the woodchips to make them suitable as &#8216;food&#8217; for denitrifying bacteria, but that is still an area of current research.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The bacteria don&#8217;t suck the nitrogen from the soil, either, which is important to maintaining its agricultural value. Nitrogen-rich soil is naturally good for growing crops, and of course fertilizer and manure add nitrogen to the mix as well. But because the trenches filled with woodchips are far more appealing to denitrifying bacteria, the bioreactors prevent the soil from losing too much nitrogen while protecting the water from gaining too much.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29013\" style=\"width: 1004px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29013\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29013\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction.jpg\" alt=\"bioreactors\" width=\"994\" height=\"588\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction.jpg 994w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction-300x177.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction-600x355.jpg 600w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction-768x454.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction-940x556.jpg 940w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_observe_construction-718x426.jpg 718w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 994px) 100vw, 994px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29013\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The research team observes the construction of one of the bioreactors in the Chesapeake Bay. The woodchips accelerate bacteria\u2019s natural process of taking nitrogen out of the water. (Credit: Laura Christianson)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThese denitrifying bacteria are just like humans who have to eat carbon to fuel our breathing process,\u201d adds Christianson. \u201cHowever, rather than breathe oxygen in and exhale carbon dioxide like us, these bacteria are able to essentially &#8216;breathe&#8217; nitrate molecules in and exhale dinitrogen gas. Dinitrogen gas forms 78% of our atmosphere, and it is stable and benign\u2014it is not a greenhouse gas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is no danger from harmful bacteria in bioreactors. In fact, it&#8217;s possible that bioreactors may help remove harmful bacteria from water, although that has not yet been proven.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cDenitrifying bacteria are so abundant and resilient, harmful bacteria don\u2019t outcompete them inside a bioreactor,\u201d remarks Christianson. \u201cOne exciting note is that some real &#8216;baddies&#8217; like E. coli might actually be removed by woodchip bioreactors, thus potentially giving bioreactors an additional purpose beyond simply cleaning nitrogen from water. This is still an area of very early research, so we can\u2019t say much yet, but it\u2019s promising!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400; color: #808080;\">A (relatively) simple solution to a complex problem<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although it may seem that simply reducing fertilizer use will solve the problem of nitrates in water, this oversimplified view misses the mark.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cOur soils and fields in the Midwest are naturally very rich in nitrogen thanks to the millions of years of prairie that previously grew here,\u201d states Christianson. \u201cThus, some of this natural nitrogen every year ends up going down our tile drains, too. Simply reducing nitrogen fertilizer levels to zero will not solve our water quality problems because the situation is much more complicated than that! These amazing naturally nitrogen-rich soils simply happen to require artificial drainage, that is tile drains, or they would be too wet in the spring to grow crops.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This issue led to the use of subsurface tile drains across the Midwestern United States\u2014and bioreactors with them. This would mean that existing conceptions of bioreactors would need to be adapted for use elsewhere in the US.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe subsurface tile drains used widely across the US Midwest, and other regions around the world, are critical to the high crop productivity of our region,\u201d explains Christianson. \u201cThe idea was first conceived by researchers in Canada and New Zealand in the mid-1990s to remove nitrate from shallow groundwater. Since then, we\u2019ve advanced the design to make bioreactors work for tile drainage pipes, while keeping the design fairly simple and farmer-friendly, low maintenance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29012\" style=\"width: 994px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29012\" class=\"wp-image-29012 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel.jpg\" alt=\"bioreactors\" width=\"984\" height=\"652\" srcset=\"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel.jpg 984w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel-600x398.jpg 600w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel-768x509.jpg 768w, https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactors_gravel-940x623.jpg 940w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 984px) 100vw, 984px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-29012\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using a tractor and shovels, researchers lay gravel over woodchips in one of the bioreactors. (Credit: Eric May)<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The team tested how three different varieties of bioreactors treated water in the Chesapeake Bay area. In each case, the water was already flowing through a drainage ditch, or routed for one. One bioreactor was actually in a trench; another was next to the trench; the third kind of bioreactor treated slowly flowing groundwater under the trench once it finally made contact. All three used some kind of wood or sawdust. All three worked well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe Mid-Atlantic region has some tile drains below the surface of fields, but really has a lot more agricultural ditches that are used to move water from fields,\u201d Christianson explains. \u201cWe\u2019ve been designing bioreactors to treat tile drainage (which is in a pipe) in the Midwest for about 10 years, and we wanted to modify the technology to treat water in agricultural ditches.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While the three varieties worked in a general sense, refining the process is the next step.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cAll three of the kinds we tested work, but they each had some pros and cons,\u201d Christianson clarifies. \u201cLong story short, we know this idea works now, but more bioreactors are needed to really start to make some design and management recommendations.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The sawdust wall version was the easiest and least expensive bioreactor design, with installation taking one day. The in-ditch design was relatively more complicated and required two days for installation. And although a ditch diversion bioreactor requires taking some land out of production, its design process is more aligned with that of tile drainage bioreactors that people already have experience with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next in the process will be more testing and improvement of bioreactor designs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTo test this practice at the field-scale with different design tweaks, it takes farmers who are willing to be at the leading edge of solving water quality challenges,\u201d remarks Christianson. \u201cIt also takes research funding! We\u2019re always on the intrepid hunt for both good partners and good funding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":29014,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[502,140,103,109,147],"class_list":["post-29010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-agriculture","tag-groundwater","tag-news-2","tag-news-ticker","tag-nitrogen"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Environmental Monitor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Karla Lant\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Karla Lant\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Karla Lant\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b\"},\"headline\":\"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\"},\"wordCount\":1197,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"agriculture\",\"groundwater\",\"news\",\"news ticker\",\"nitrogen\"],\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\",\"name\":\"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b\"},\"description\":\"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.fondriest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/04\\\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg\",\"width\":1440,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Bioreactor design varies, but they are typically large trenches filled with wood chips. (Credit: Brandon C. Goeller, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"Environmental Monitor\",\"description\":\"Application and technology news for environmental professionals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b\",\"name\":\"Karla Lant\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Karla Lant\"},\"description\":\"Karla Lant is a professional freelance science writer and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. She also covers other scientific and medical stories as well as technology.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.fondriest.com\\\/news\\\/author\\\/karlalant\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed","description":"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed","og_description":"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm","og_site_name":"Environmental Monitor","article_published_time":"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1440,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Karla Lant","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Karla Lant","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm"},"author":{"name":"Karla Lant","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b"},"headline":"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed","datePublished":"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm"},"wordCount":1197,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg","keywords":["agriculture","groundwater","news","news ticker","nitrogen"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm","name":"Bioreactors Helping Protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg","datePublished":"2018-04-10T15:12:48+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-17T18:27:05+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b"},"description":"Bioreactors can help protect the Chesapeake Bay Watershed from excessive nitrates in water from agricultural runoff while protecting nitrogen-rich soil.","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/bioreactors-helping-protect-chesapeake-bay-watershed.htm#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/news.fondriest.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/Bioreactor_design_varies.jpg","width":1440,"height":1080,"caption":"Bioreactor design varies, but they are typically large trenches filled with wood chips. (Credit: Brandon C. Goeller, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/","name":"Environmental Monitor","description":"Application and technology news for environmental professionals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/51170f7bfa3a05b94cea6f517ce4e79b","name":"Karla Lant","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/60e8c0668d383b138552b06b36f51c157a5568de8402f8dead418c4bc55c2fec?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Karla Lant"},"description":"Karla Lant is a professional freelance science writer and a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists. She also covers other scientific and medical stories as well as technology.","url":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/author\/karlalant"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29010"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39323,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29010\/revisions\/39323"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fondriest.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}