Environmental Studies Majors Analyze Water at Dairy
Students from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, are putting their environmental studies to work monitoring groundwater quality at the UT dairy research unit in Blount County.
Ethan Parker, director of the East Tennessee AgResearch and Education Center – Little River Unit approached Lecturer Amy Robinson about the project in June 2024. While the Walland, Tennessee, farm’s primary research is on dairy production, it also provides a great outdoor classroom for students learning dairy cattle health, feed crop production, waste processing, and environmentally sound, self-sustaining management practices.
Robinson recruited two undergraduates from the Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences (EEPS), Maddie Hawkins and Kee-Lee Overbeck. Together, they collected and analyzed samples in fall 2024 as the first part of a project expected to help the dairy monitor the effects of updated management practices on water quality. The goal is to help the farm plan upcoming modernization efforts in the facility to better handle a larger number of dairy cows.
The farm separates solids and liquids from wastewater and applies the nutrients to crops. To make the process more efficient as the number of dairy cows in the facility has grown, UT plans to add a flocculant to help separate solids from the wastewater slurry. “They’re really trying to be mindful of all the inputs into that system,” Robinson explained. “They wanted us to come look at the groundwater before they start adding a change to their treatment process.”
Hawkins and Overbeck understand the importance of their work. Not only is groundwater used for irrigation, but the 529-acre farm is bordered by the Little River and Ellejoy Creek, waterways that are used for various recreational activities and as the primary drinking water source for Blount County.
The farm opened in 2011, and 2015 studies indicated minimal impact of the land application of the manure-derived nutrients when the herd was smaller. Since that time, the size of the dairy has grown to about 250 head. “A lot of the data that we’ve been collecting has been pretty similar to the earlier data, which is good,” said Hawkins, suggesting that management practices have not had a negative impact on groundwater quality.
The data collected in fall 2024 will provide a baseline for ongoing monitoring during planned updates, all in service of supporting sustainable management practices in the dairy. “It’ll open up opportunities for future students,” said Overbeck.
Classroom to Field to Lab
The students conducted the work as part of a semester-long EEPS independent study course where students learn strategies to constrain research questions, develop confidence with new analytical methods and data collection, and carefully manage their time to complete the work.
“I want to encourage students to get hands-on experience, to really immerse themselves in scientific problems,” Robinson said. “These types of experiences are invaluable, especially when students get to better understand how their data can be used to inform treatment strategies and management practices.”
“A lot of times when you’re taking classes like hydrogeology, you’re really learning calculations and the theory of how we describe groundwater flow rather than the composition of groundwater. These types of things are sort of compartmentalized,” she said. “I like having a problem and then helping students learn how to think about it in three dimensions: What controls the groundwater flow? How does what it’s flowing through impact the chemistry? How do management practices impact it?”
During a project like this, students have an opportunity to look at how groundwater flow and geochemistry might respond to natural and anthropogenic (manure) inputs across a broad area and over time. It is a great opportunity to conceptualize a problem, incorporate some of the complexities that are inherent to real-world applications, apply what they have learned in the classroom, and contribute to solutions in a limited time frame.
“I really like being in the field and doing this,” Hawkins said. “I like working with my hands.”
Hawkins and Overbeck visited the farm three times and encountered challenges that honed their problem-solving skills and time management, from difficulty opening wells and limited water production from some wells due to drought, to the long hours spent in the lab filtering samples prior to water quality analyses.
The students used a new YSI probe to determine temperature, nitrate, specific conductance, and pH onsite and completed additional geochemical analyses in the lab (e.g., phosphate, lignin and tannin, dissolved organic carbon). By comparing their data to previous data sets, they were able to better understand how the groundwater responded to inputs from the dairy processes, an important lesson for these environmental studies majors who want to learn tools to help manage our resources.
“I’m excited that this is going to be an ongoing project,” Robinson said. “They learn all the fundamentals, and they see where it applies directly to a real-world problem.”
Student Exploration
Both Hawkins and Overbeck found their career paths through the College of Arts and Sciences Exploratory program. Hawkins graduated in December 2024 with a Bachelor of Science degree in geology and environmental studies, and Overbeck is on track to graduate in May 2025.
Overbeck said she’s always cared about sustainability and the earth, and EEPS classes in environmental restoration were insightful. “It keeps me mindful of what I do and how it impacts everyone else and the environment we live in,” she said.
A high school class in environmental studies first piqued Hawkins’ interest in the topic, and at UT she has taken courses on water sustainability, hydrogeology, and stormwater management.
“You’ve got to have healthy streams; you have to have healthy groundwater,” she said. “All of this is super important, and I’m super passionate about it.”
By Amy Beth Miller