If you farm in the basin

The home page says farm and tile-drain runoff is the largest remaining phosphorus load, and that the idea is to pay for verified pounds. This page answers what a farmer asks first. Where something has not been decided, it says so.

Where things stand today

Voluntary: taking part would be your choice. This is an independent project, not a government body, and it cannot require any practice on any farm. Whether a future program run by someone else would be voluntary has not been decided by anyone.
Who pays: no one has agreed to pay. No funder, agency or buyer has signed on.
How much: no payment rate has been set, per pound or per acre. We have not proposed a range, because we do not yet have measured farm-level results to base one on. If a rate is ever proposed, it will appear here with how it was worked out.
Your ground: no landowner has been contacted, and no pilot site has been chosen. Any farm, field or site named elsewhere on this site is a hypothetical example.
What "verified pounds" means: paying for the phosphorus a practice actually keeps out of the water, measured or estimated by an agreed method, instead of paying per acre enrolled. The method has not been worked out.

What each practice changes on a field

These are the five farm practices named in the six levers. One line each on what physically changes, and whether any land comes out of crop.

4R timing (right source, rate, time and place)Changes how and when fertilizer goes on: for example, placing phosphorus below the surface instead of spreading it on top, and not applying before heavy rain or on frozen ground. No land out of production. Uses your existing equipment or a placement attachment.^1,6
Controlled drainageA water-level control box is set into the tile main. You raise the outlet after harvest to hold water in the field, and lower it before planting and harvest so the field drains for equipment. No land out of production. The box sits on the tile line; it works best on flat ground.²
Saturated bufferTile water is sent sideways into a buried perforated pipe that runs along a grass strip next to a stream or ditch, so it soaks through the strip's soil before reaching the water. Needs a grass strip at least 30 feet wide along the water. If you already have one, no extra cropland; if not, the strip would come out of crop. The pipe is buried at least 2 feet deep.³
Two-stage ditchThe ditch banks are dug back to form flat benches just above the normal water line. Small flows stay in the low channel; bigger flows spread onto the benches, where grass slows the water and holds soil and phosphorus. Can take a narrow strip along the ditch if the top is widened. Costs more to build than a standard cleanout, but usually needs less upkeep after.⁴
Blind inletIn a low spot where water ponds, the open tile riser is replaced by a pit filled with gravel and topped with sand, so water filters through before it enters the tile. Affects only the small area of the low spot. Needs occasional upkeep. Indiana field tests found much less sediment and phosphorus leaving than through a riser.⁵

How this fits programs you already use

H2Ohio (Ohio Department of Agriculture): already pays Maumee-basin farmers per acre for a nutrient management plan and practices such as subsurface phosphorus placement and overwintering cover, through your county Soil and Water Conservation District.⁶
EQIP (USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service): shares the cost of installing practices like these, built to NRCS practice standards.⁷
Not worked out: how a pay-for-pounds payment would sit alongside these programs, including how to avoid being paid twice for the same practice, has not been worked out. Talk to your Soil and Water Conservation District about current programs; nothing here replaces them.

The numbers, in pounds

The spring limit for total phosphorus at Waterville is 860 metric tonnes, about 1.9 million pounds. In a dry year the spring load has been about 500 tonnes (about 1.1 million pounds); in a wet year about 2,100 tonnes (about 4.6 million pounds). One tonne is about 2,200 pounds. Sources are on the home page.

Sources

4R Nutrient Stewardship, The 4Rs.
USDA NRCS, Improved Management of Drainage Water (Drainage Water Management, practice 554).
USDA NRCS, Conservation Practice Standard 604, Saturated Buffer (2020).
The Ohio State University, Open Channel / Two-Stage Ditch (NRCS 582), and Two-Stage Drainage Ditches.
USDA Agricultural Research Service, blind inlet fact sheet (2018); Michigan State University Extension, E3454, Blind Inlets.
H2Ohio, Producers are eligible to earn incentives for implementing practices to improve water quality. Check current rates and enrollment with your county SWCD.
USDA NRCS, Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP).