Proceedings of the 2022 Mississippi Water Resources Conference

Year: 2022 Authors: Ozeren Y., Wren D., Rossell W.

On-farm reservoirs and tailwater recovery systems are commonly used conservation practices in the Mississippi Delta region to provide additional irrigation water and reduce demand on groundwater resources. Built above ground by using locally available soils, on-farm reservoirs are filled to capacity with spring rainfall and runoff and kept at full capacity as much as possible until growing season. Strong winds combined with high water levels during winter and spring months generate damaging waves which rapidly erode the earthen embankments, leading to additional maintenance costs for producers. The goal of this study was to assess embankment impairment due to wind generated waves in an on-farm reservoir near Shelby, MS. A wind station and two 2 m long self-logging wave staffs were installed to measure wind speed, wind direction and water level continuously during spring and summer months of 2021. The embankment geometry was monitored via land-based RTK surveys that were carried out during the same period. An attempt was made to quantify the rate of embankment impairment for the measured wind and wave characteristics. Key findings of the field study and comparison of field measurements with previous laboratory and field measurements will be presented.