Biosolids & Soil Carbon and Nutrient Management Research Under Climate Change

The MWRD’s Fulton County Experimental Facility  

The MWRD’s Fulton County (~13000 acres) site, developed primarily from surface mining areas, is located in Canton, western Illinois. About 4,000 acres of the site reclaimed with biosolids have been used for decades as agricultural fields for row crop production. There are about 10 experiments established, many of which for biosolids have a history of 30- 50 years. The site has infrastructure for surface and ground water monitoring, including a small laboratory for processing water, soil, and plant samples for analyses at the MWRD’s Chicago laboratories. Since 2015, the Fulton County Experimental Facility serves as a field laboratory for the continuous and long-term testing of improved soil, plant and water management practices through collaboration with universities and demonstration of these practices for farmers in Illinois to become familiar with their application through collaborations with Illinois and Fulton County Farm Bureau. The site is available as a resource for collaboration with organizations that are interested in contributing actively to the Illinois Nutrient loss reduction goal of 15% for N and 25% for P in riverine water by 2025 and 45% for the nutrients ultimately.