Effects of Agricultural Land Cover on Water Quality at the Watershed Scale in the Lower Kaskaskia River Watershed

Effects of Agricultural Land Cover on Water Quality at the Watershed Scale in the Lower Kaskaskia River Watershed PDF Author: Julia D. Friedmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Water quality
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Agriculture is currently the leading cause of stream impairment in the United States. As the population continues to grow, as well as the demand for biofuels, more pressure is being exerted on land to produce greater quantities of food. To satisfy the need for increased production, marginal forest and grasslands have been converted to agriculture, fertilizers and equipment have rapidly evolved, and land has been taken out of conservation programs. Unfortunately, water quality impairment often accompanies these efforts to increase crop production. To reduce the impacts of agriculture on water quality, best management practices (BMPs) have been developed and tested at the field scale, with fewer studies focusing on the effects of agricultural land cover and BMPs (e.g., riparian buffers) on water quality at the watershed scale. Thus, this study was designed to assess the effects of riparian buffers and agricultural land cover on water quality at the watershed scale. Within Richland and Silver Creek watersheds (tributaries of the Lower Kaskaskia River watershed in Illinois), forty-three catchments were selected across an agricultural to urban land cover gradient. Having an understanding of the impacts that riparian buffers and headwater streams have on water quality is key for watershed managers to focus restoration efforts in the most critical areas for maintaining stream quality.

Effects of Agricultural Land Cover on Water Quality at the Watershed Scale in the Lower Kaskaskia River Watershed

Effects of Agricultural Land Cover on Water Quality at the Watershed Scale in the Lower Kaskaskia River Watershed PDF Author: Julia D. Friedmann
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Water quality
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Agriculture is currently the leading cause of stream impairment in the United States. As the population continues to grow, as well as the demand for biofuels, more pressure is being exerted on land to produce greater quantities of food. To satisfy the need for increased production, marginal forest and grasslands have been converted to agriculture, fertilizers and equipment have rapidly evolved, and land has been taken out of conservation programs. Unfortunately, water quality impairment often accompanies these efforts to increase crop production. To reduce the impacts of agriculture on water quality, best management practices (BMPs) have been developed and tested at the field scale, with fewer studies focusing on the effects of agricultural land cover and BMPs (e.g., riparian buffers) on water quality at the watershed scale. Thus, this study was designed to assess the effects of riparian buffers and agricultural land cover on water quality at the watershed scale. Within Richland and Silver Creek watersheds (tributaries of the Lower Kaskaskia River watershed in Illinois), forty-three catchments were selected across an agricultural to urban land cover gradient. Having an understanding of the impacts that riparian buffers and headwater streams have on water quality is key for watershed managers to focus restoration efforts in the most critical areas for maintaining stream quality.

Impact of Agricultural Land Use on Stream Nitrate, Phosphorus, and Sediment Concentrations at the Watershed and Field Scale

Impact of Agricultural Land Use on Stream Nitrate, Phosphorus, and Sediment Concentrations at the Watershed and Field Scale PDF Author: Kirsch Brittany A.
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Groundwater
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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Book Description
Water quality is directly impacted by the landscape through which it travels. As such, land use, including summer annual and winter annual/perennial agriculture, has dramatic influence on the water quality of downstream aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. I examined the impact of agricultural land use on water quality through two projects, one at a watershed scale and one at a field scale. In my first project, I investigated the impact of agricultural land use and climate on water quality in 13 HUC10 watersheds across Nebraska using public data from US Geological Survey (USGS), US Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics Service (USDA-NASS), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I focused on spring concentrations of nitrate, phosphorus, and suspended sediment in streams from 1980-2017. Results showed that each of the pollutants is impacted differently by agricultural land use and climate. Watersheds with higher percentages of summer annual (corn and soybean) acres generally had higher and more variable concentrations of pollutants. Additionally, watersheds with lower percentages of summer annual acres and higher percentages of grassland/pasture were found to have consistently lower pollutant concentrations across flood and drought conditions. In the second project, my main objective was to create a field scale sampling protocol using rainfall simulators to investigate the impact of riparian area runoff on stream chemistry. Using a conservative tracer in the "rain" water, I was able to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed rainfall simulator protocol as a method for investigating riparian runoff impact on stream chemistry and pilot the protocol in the riparian areas of summer annual and grassland fields. Results of water quality analysis found that stream chemistry constituents (nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment) increased during the rainfall simulation, indicating that the runoff generated carried additional nutrients and sediment into the stream. Overall, these results from both the field and watershed scale suggest that variability in water quality under summer annual is higher than in perennially-based land uses.

Open-file Report

Open-file Report PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Geological surveys
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Water-resources Investigations

Water-resources Investigations PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hydrology
Languages : en
Pages : 80

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Agricultural Land Use Water Quality Interaction

Agricultural Land Use Water Quality Interaction PDF Author: J. Kühner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 84

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Phase 1 of the Water Quality Management Basin Plan for the Kaskaskia River Basin

Phase 1 of the Water Quality Management Basin Plan for the Kaskaskia River Basin PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Kaskaskia River (Ill.)
Languages : en
Pages : 786

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Research and Cumulative Watershed Effects

Research and Cumulative Watershed Effects PDF Author: Leslie M. Reid
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Land use
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Hydrology of Area 29, Eastern Region, Interior Coal Province, Illinois

Hydrology of Area 29, Eastern Region, Interior Coal Province, Illinois PDF Author: K. K. Fitzgerald
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Coal mines and mining
Languages : en
Pages : 82

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How to Build Better Agricultural Conservation Programs to Protect Water Quality

How to Build Better Agricultural Conservation Programs to Protect Water Quality PDF Author: Deanna Lynn Osmond
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780976943297
Category : Agricultural conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 387

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Book Description
"From 2004 to 2006, the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) (formerly the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service) and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service jointly funded 13 watershed projects across the nation. These NIFA projects were established to evaluate the effects of agricultural conservation practices on water quality at the watershed scale. The overall goal of these watershed studies was to determine the measurable effects of agricultural conservation practices on spatial patterns and trends in water quality at the watershed scale. Conducted under the name Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), the projects were intended to increase understanding of the following: How the timing, location, and suite of implemented agricultural conservation practices affect water quality at the watershed scale ; How conservation practices implemented in a watershed interact with respect to their effects on water quality ; What social and economic factors facilitate or impede implementation of conservation practices ; The optimal set of conservation practices and their optimal placement within the watershed needed to achieve water quality goals. As these 13 NIFA-CEAP watershed studies were nearing completion, the USDA NIFA funded another project to synthesize the information gained from the projects in order to build an aggregate knowledge base that both evaluated impacts of conservation practices and programs on water resources in order to improve the management of agricultural landscapes and achieve environmental goals that could inform future policy decisions. This book describes the outcome of the synthesis effort."--Preface.

Regional Estimates of the Amount of U.S. Agricultural Land Located in Watersheds with Poor Water Quality

Regional Estimates of the Amount of U.S. Agricultural Land Located in Watersheds with Poor Water Quality PDF Author: Richard A. Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural pollution
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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