Visit to the War Branch Bioreactor

Community partners tour the bioreactor at War Branch. 

The War Branch bioreactor was installed below a natural spring in the War Branch watershed. The USGS had previously measured elevated nitrate concentrations from this spring. 

Bioreactors are designed to reduce nitrate concentrations in the water flowing through them by creating favorable conditions for denitrifying bacteria to thrive. These bacteria convert nitrate, a nutrient that can harm the environment at high concentrations, into nitrogen gas, which makes up 78% of the air we breathe.

At this location, the creek bed was filled with wood chips and covered in soil. The wood chips act as a source of organic matter for the denitrifying bacteria, and the soil keeps out oxygen, which is toxic to these bacteria. As the water seeps through the wood chip dam and flows out the other end, nitrate is removed.