About

Professor Rabin Bhattarai is an Assistant Professor in Soil and Water Resources Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a position he began in August 2014. He leads the Water Quality Lab within the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. The primary goal of his research group is to develop sustainable engineering solutions aimed at improving water quality and enhancing crop production. His work involves investigating various aspects of water quality management, nutrient cycling, and agricultural sustainability, with a focus on practical applications such as bioreactor-biochar treatment systems, floating cultivation platforms, and the evaluation of best management practices for nutrient and sediment control. Professor Bhattarai's research has been supported by multiple projects funded by agencies including the Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois Nutrient Research and Education Council, USDA Specialty Crop Program, and others. He has also contributed to the academic community through invited talks and keynote speeches at international conferences and universities, including institutions in China. His lab hosts a diverse group of graduate students and visiting scholars, reflecting a collaborative and international research environment dedicated to addressing critical challenges in water quality and agricultural engineering.

Research topics

• Environmental science
• Water resource management
• Ecology
• Economics
• Geology
• Environmental engineering
• Engineering
• Agricultural economics
• Waste management
• Environmental protection
• Natural resource economics
• Geography
• Environmental economics

Selected publications

• A framework for simulating structural sediment perimeter barriers using VFSMOD

  Journal of Soils and Sediments · 2026-03-23

  articleOpen access

  There are limited tools, particularly process-based models, to simulate the performance of a structural sediment perimeter barrier (SPB) to prevent sediment and particle-bound pollutant transport from construction sites. In this study, we developed a framework to simulate the process of water movement and sedimentation in fiber rolls, a type of structural SPB, using the Vegetative Filter Strip Modeling System (VFSMOD). Fiber rolls constructed from two materials, excelsior wood fiber logs and coconut coir logs, were evaluated under controlled sheet flow conditions. VFSMOD was parameterized to represent shallow overland flow, infiltration, and sediment transport through the fiber rolls, especially with the estimation of equivalent buffer length and Manning’s roughness. Model performance was assessed by comparing simulated and observed water and sediment balance, outflow hydrographs, and spatial sediment deposition patterns (sediment wedges). Statistical performance was evaluated using Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE), and root mean square error (RMSE). The Manning’s roughness coefficients of excelsior wood fiber logs and coconut coir logs were estimated as 0.5 and 0.4, respectively. The comparison of the simulated and observed outflow results indicated that there was a good agreement (NSE: 0.845/0.508, KGE: 0.762/0.726, and RMSE: 50/93 cm3 s− 1) for both fiber rolls, and the model reasonably reproduced observed sediment deposition trends. The results demonstrate the potential for extending VFSMOD beyond vegetative filter strips to represent flow and sediment transport processes through fiber roll–based SPBs, providing a process-based modeling approach for evaluating sediment control practices at construction sites.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Beyond the Metrics: Context‐Aware Calibration for Better Drain Flow Modelling

  Irrigation and Drainage · 2025-11-20

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  ABSTRACT Robust hydrological and water quality modelling is essential for advancing the understanding and management of engineered agricultural subsurface drainage systems. Achieving credible model output hinges on calibration strategies that are both rigorous and context sensitive. At the field scale, accurately capturing the dynamics of nutrient load curves, particularly under conditions of intermittent zero flow, is a critical challenge. These systems often exhibit heteroscedastic residuals, complicating traditional calibration approaches. While the heteroscedastic maximum likelihood estimator (HMLE) has shown promise in watershed‐scale rainfall–runoff modelling, its applicability to field‐scale, process‐based models such as DRAINMOD remains widely underexplored. This study systematically evaluates the performance of the HMLE over widely used metrics—NSE and Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE)—across diverse error structures in subsurface (tile) drainage model residuals. Two key insights emerged: (1) KGE consistently outperformed the NSE across scenarios and (2) the HMLE's effectiveness was highly sensitive to the underlying error structure, ranging from superior to suboptimal. These findings underscore the necessity of adopting multiobjective calibration frameworks that integrate both statistical and graphical diagnostics. More critically, they challenge the notion of universal calibration metrics, emphasizing the imperative for modellers to tailor calibration strategies to the specific characteristics of their system and data.

  PublisherDOI

• Discerning the Elevated Risk of Compound Extreme Heat Stress Followed by Extreme Precipitation Events in the Socially Vulnerable Communities in the Upper Midwest

  International Journal of Climatology · 2025-04-15

  articleOpen accessCorresponding

  ABSTRACT Compound extreme events have the potential to yield severe socio‐economic repercussions. This study delves into compound extreme precipitation events following extreme heat stress (CEPHS), an aspect that needs more extensive examination within the compound event framework in the upper Midwestern United States. Results reveal a significant increasing trend in CEPHS occurrences, particularly in Kentucky, lower, central, and northern parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, central parts of Missouri, northern parts of Michigan, and western and north‐eastern parts of Iowa from 1979 to 2021. Moreover, we observed significantly higher intensities of extreme precipitation events following extreme heat stress compared to those occurring independently, predominantly in the central and northern parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio during the same period. Our analysis also underscores a robust association between CEPHS and convective available potential energy and convective inhibition. These insights offer valuable implications for flood hazard management strategies under climate change within the region.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Feasibility of Utilizing Native Grasses and Forbs In Lieu of Exotic Cool Season Grasses on Roadside Rights-of-Way

  2025-01-01

  report

  We assessed the status of 34 native species plantings along roadsides in Indiana and Illinois and evaluated soil conditions, distance from road, and surrounding landscape cover to determine which factors led to successful long-term establishment of plantings. Cover by seeded native species and native species overall increased with distance from road and decreased with increasing soil nitrate and phosphorous. Number of native species and seeded native species increased with distance from road and greater seed mix diversity. In contrast, richness of non-native, non-seeded species was greater at shorter distances from road. Across all sites, 84 of the 150 native species seeded at sites were never observed in our surveys, but 28 native species were observed at more than half of the sites in which they were seeded. Our results suggest that native plantings can persist on roadsides for several years after planting, but that specific site-level factors increase the likelihood of long-term success.

  PublisherDOI

• Assessing the agricultural, environmental, and economic effects of crop diversity management: A comprehensive review on crop rotation and cover crop practices

  Journal of Environmental Management · 2025-05-23 · 9 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DOSES OF BIOCHAR ON SOIL PROPERTIES, GROWTH PARAMETERS AND YIELD ATTRIBUTES OF TOMATO (SOLANUM LYCOPERSICUM MILL) IN KHOTANG, NEPAL

  Tropical Agroecosystems · 2025-01-05

  articleOpen access

  Globally, biotic stress caused by many microorganisms has been a significant problem. The fungal infections by phytopathogenic fungi cause various diseases in crops resulting loss of productivity and quality. The present work highlights that the fungal culture, Penicillium oxalicum can be used as a biocontrol agent against several strains of Fusarium spp., and it involves the bioactivity by fungi, i.e., formation of different secondary metabolites, and enzymes as well as suppressiveness that can control the pathogenic fungi. The bioactivity was observed in fungal cultures though differed as per incubation period. The bioactive potential of fungal culture has been shown in terms of percentage (%) of growth inhibition of Fusarium spp and calculated based on morphological growth on plate culture techniques. Highest percentage of growth inhibition was observed in the 12-day-old culture of Fusarium spp. followed by 5-day-old culture. Focusing on different incubation periods on bioactive potential of Penicillium oxalicum maybe useful for the formation of biologically active metabolites and also effective for pharmaceutical research and show antagonistic behavior against plant pathogens.

  PublisherDOI

• Engineering bottom ash pellets for phosphorus removal from water: Performance evaluation and economic assessment

  Resources Conservation and Recycling · 2025-10-24 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  • Engineered bottom ash pellets (BAP) were developed for phosphorus removal. • Thermal and additives modification improved BAP adsorption capacity. • TEA confirmed BAPs as a cost-effective solution for phosphorus removal. • Scaled-up BAP systems demonstrated a long lifespan and low treatment costs. This study investigates the development of engineered bottom ash pellet (BAP) and evaluates its phosphorus removal performance and economic viability intended for field-scale applications. BAP was produced by blending coal bottom ash (CBA) with clay and lime, followed by thermal treatment. Bench-scale experiments showed that modification of CBA to BAP improved the phosphorus removal efficiency from 34 % to 95 %, with a maximum adsorption capacity from 19.56 mg/g to 56.6 mg/g. Phosphorus removal followed a pseudo-second-order kinetic model (R² = 0.99) and fit well with the Langmuir isotherm (R² = 0.98), indicating chemisorption as the dominant mechanism. Economic analysis estimated the BAP production cost of $118 to $ 261/ton, with labor and operational time identified as key cost drivers. Scaled system evaluation demonstrated that BAP offers long service life and cost-effective phosphorus removal in both municipal and agricultural applications.

  PublisherDOI

• Illinois Department of Transportation’s Seeding Standards and Best Management Practices

  2025-05-01

  report

  To provide evidence-based revisions to Section 250 of the Illinois Department of Transportation roadside specifications manual, we conducted a literature review, an experimental planting, and a survey of previously planted roadsides. We created newly designed native seed mixes and field tested these mixes in comparison with existing IDOT mixes. After one year of growth in lawn, roadside, and slope areas, we found overall positive effects on native species cover using the newly designed native mixes. We surveyed 34 native species plantings along roadsides in Indiana and Illinois and evaluated several variables to determine which factors led to long-term establishment, finding cover by seeded native species and native species overall increased with distance from road and decreased with increasing soil nitrate and phosphorous. We further found that number of native species and seeded native species increased with distance from road and greater seed mix diversity, whereas richness of non-native, non-seeded species was greater at shorter distances from the road. Across all sites, 84 of the 150 native species seeded at sites were never observed in our surveys, but 28 native species were observed at more than half of the sites in which they were seeded. Our results suggest native plantings can persist on roadsides for several years after planting, but that specific site-level factors increase the likelihood of long-term success.

  PublisherDOI

• Sorption materials for phosphorus reduction in drained agricultural fields: Gaps between the results from laboratory evaluation and field application

  Ecological Engineering · 2024-07-26 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Phosphorus (P) losses from drained agricultural fields are a major cause of eutrophication. In this study, we evaluated the performance of three types of phosphorus sorbing materials (PSMs), including P polymer sorbent pellets, designer biochar pellets, and iron shavings materials, in removing dissolved P at both laboratory and field scales. The laboratory experiments revealed the following order of P removal efficiency with initial P concentrations of 1 mg L−1 and 50 mg L−1: designer biochar > P polymer sorbent > iron shavings. Based on the laboratory results, the designer biochar and P polymer sorbent were considered promising PSMs, especially the designer biochar achieved excellent P removal efficiency (>90%). On the contrary, subsequent field-scale applications demonstrated another story. Field results indicated that the designer biochar pellets could reduce up to 37% dissolved P from the drainage systems during a three-month period. Unfortunately, we encountered difficulties gathering data regarding the efficacy of P polymer sorbent pellets for P removal since the pellets disintegrating into small particles and being partially washed out through the drainage pipes. This failure case shows the importance of long-term field-scale validation monitoring and improving the toughness of materials under complex changes. Overall, our study has shown the discrepancy between laboratory and field evaluation, highlighting the critical needs to refine the laboratory evaluation methods and narrow the gaps between laboratory -scale research and field-scale application.

  PublisherDOI

• Feasibility of Predicting Subsurface  Drainage Discharge With DRAINMOD Parameterized by Uncalibrated SURRGO  Soil Properties and ROSETTA3

  Journal of Natural Resources and Agricultural Ecosystems · 2024-01-01 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  <b>Highlights</b> <list list-type=bullet><list-item> Automated parameterization of DRAINMOD soil inputs would increase the model‘s use and application. </list-item><list-item> SSURGO and ROSETTA3 were used to obtain the soil properties required by DRAINMOD at three sites. </list-item><list-item> DRAINMOD predicted discharge was evaluated using both measured data and calibrated scenarios. </list-item><list-item> DRAINMOD predictions indicated that using SSURGO and ROSETTA3 is acceptable to represent soil properties. </list-item></list> The authors have paid for open access for this article. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License https://creative‌commons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Submitted for review on 14 July 2023 as manuscript number NRES 15735; approved for publication as a Research Article by Associate Editor Dr. Debasmita Misra and Community Editor Dr. Kati Migliaccio of the Natural Resources & Environmental Systems Community of ASABE on 7 January 2024. Mention of company or trade names is for description only and does not imply endorsement by the USDA. The USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer. <b>Abstract. </b>Implementing hydrologic and water quality (HWQ) models in decision-support tools (DSTs) is essential to increasing their adoption by a wide user base. However, the performance of HWQ models and, consequently, DSTs in predicting site hydrology are highly dependent on the proper representation of site-specific soil properties. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of DRAINMOD predictions of subsurface drainage discharge using uncalibrated SSURGO- and ROSETTA3-based soil data. First, the model performance was examined by comparing predicted discharge using uncalibrated soil input data to measured discharge from three sites across the Midwest (Vermillion, IL; Delaware, OH; and Clayton, MI) with a total of 15 site-years of data. A second evaluation of the model performance was conducted by comparing predicted discharge using uncalibrated soil parameters to the model predictions using calibrated soil input parameters. The model performance (i.e., using uncalibrated soil parameters) in predicting drainage discharge compared to measured data ranged from good to excellent, with daily mean Nash-Sutcliffe efficiencies (NSEs) of 0.67 at the Vermillion site, 0.60 at the Delaware site, and 0.82 at the Clayton site. The use of calibrated soil input parameters resulted in better goodness-of-fit between measured and predicted discharge (i.e., monthly NSE range: 0.76 – 0.87) than the uncalibrated soil parameters scenario (i.e., monthly NSE range: 0.65 – 0.86) but was not significantly different (i.e., t-test, p range: 0.59 – 0.97> 0.05). Our results suggest that using SSURGO and ROSETTA3-based soil input data in DRAINMOD is an acceptable approach for representing site-specific hydrologic conditions when soil inputs are unavailable, thereby, presenting a potential for implementing the model into DSTs.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Prasanta K. Kalita

  22 shared

• Richard A. Cooke

  University of Illinois System

  20 shared

• Shiyang Li

  Shanghai University

  19 shared

• Hanseok Jeong

  14 shared

• Xiangfeng Huang

  12 shared

• Hongxu Zhou

  11 shared

• Qiuhong Tang

  Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research

  11 shared

• Laura E. Christianson

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  11 shared

Labs

• Water Quality LabPI

  Develop sustainable engineering solutions to improve water quality and crop production

Education

• PhD, Agricultural and Biological Engineering

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

  2011