Management of agricultural drainage systems in the Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper offers an overview of the history, the present state and the outlook for the future of tile drainage on agricultural lands of the Czech Republic. Being located in a zone of moderate climate, the country does not need drainage as a corrective measure after irrigation. Draining of agricultural mineral soils took place on a large scale over almost the whole of the twentieth century. Today, virtually no drainage systems are being either built anew or rehabilitated, but most of them are still working. Negative and positive impacts of land drainage on catchment runoff, water balance, groundwater hydrology, nitrate leaching and local climate are described. The future of land drainage depends on the prospects of agriculture. At present, the doing-nothing option prevails. In future, some of the existing drainage systems may be rebuilt as controlled systems combining drainage, retention and irrigation. Studies on the impact of land drainage and land use changes on nitrate leaching and microclimate indicate the need for corrective measures. Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.