Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID ND-2025-Banerjee-1

Through The Looking Glass: Exploring Soil Microbiomes To Mitigate Groundwater Contamination In Agroecosystems

Institute: North Dakota
Year Established: 2025 Start Date: 2026-01-01 End Date: 2026-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $12,360 Total Non-Federal Funds: $12,497

Principal Investigators: Samiran Banerjee

Project Summary: Agriculture is a major non-point source of pollution for North Dakota's waterbodies, jeopardizing environmental sustainability and human health. This is of prime concern in a state like ND where agriculture is critical component of economy and rural prosperity. About 57% and 69% of the perennial steams in ND are affected due to contamination with excess nitrogen and phosphorus, respectively. This proposed project aims to leverage insights gained from soil metagenomics to explore pathways for mitigating groundwater contamination. Utilizing soil and water samples collected from an ND-DEQ-funded project incorporating a gradient of fertilization and tillage intensity over ND, we would integrate high-throughput shotgun metagenomic sequencing with advanced bioinformatics and machine learning tools to identify key microbial features and functionalities potentially driving nutrient cycling and contaminant reduction. Overall, this study can be used to shape targeted microbiome-based interventions for safeguarding groundwater quality.