Dr. David Rudolph

Research for better crops, safer water

Protecting watersheds is David Rudolph’s preoccupation. A professor in earth and environmental sciences, he specializes in regional groundwater flow and the movement of excess nutrients, road salt, micro-organisms, and other contaminants in groundwater systems. He has a particular interest in the effects of agricultural land use practices on water quality.

The need to protect the supply and quality of source waters has reached a crisis point in many parts of Canada where populations are growing. Meanwhile, six decades of unregulated use of manufacturing and agricultural chemicals are catching up to us — a legacy we need to deal with now, Rudolph says.

In earlier research, he found that the over-application of manure and agricultural fertilizers from large-scale farming operations in Ontario were contributing to groundwater contamination over great swaths of the rural landscape, often tens of square kilometres in size or more. Government attempts to develop policies and regulations to protect source waters are hampered by lack of regional information, a problem that Rudolph’s research aims to address.

Over the next four years, he will investigate beneficial management practices (BMPs) in the application of fertilizers and manure to crop-growing fields. This project includes nine researchers from six universities across Canada, including four professors from Waterloo. At four agriculturally distinct sites across Canada, the researchers will test changes in the quantity, timing, and type of fertilizer application, to see which BMPs minimize the passage of nutrients and microbes into groundwater.

Another object will be to find the best ways to help farmers adopt the new practices. That may not be easy.

It’s hard to change the habits of decades,” Rudolph says, “and any operational change is likely to cost farmers money. But costs should decrease over time, and our ultimate goal is to enhance crop production while minimizing harm to the environment.”