Automatic device for characterizing and sampling drainage water from the Virey-le-Grand site

Abstract

The drainage has the objective of evacuate rapidly the excess of water from the soil upper layers. Therefore it disturbs the environment and furthers input leaching. The device of Virey-le-Grand was conceived in the 1970s to study the different types of drainage. It has been re-instrumented and automated to work on the impact of agricultural practices on water quality. This re-instrumentation combines robust equipments like tipping buckets with recent technologies like photovoltaic panels and a data logger. The evolution of technology makes it energy independent and adjustable for the samplings. This device allows to study the link between the inputs applied and the inputs leaks via the drainage towards the aquatic environment to the outlet.