Agriculture and the Quality of the Nation's Waters
Intensive studies by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project in agricultural areas provide insight into how agricultural activities have altered the natural flow of water and the way that agricultural chemicals enter streams and aquifers, and in particular how nutrients affect algal and invertebrate communities in agricultural streams.
We all have a connection to agriculture, which supplies a major part of the Nation’s food, feed, and fiber needs. Agricultural chemicals move into and through every component of the hydrologic system, including air, soil, soil water, streams, wetlands, and groundwater.
The results of these NAWQA agricultural-area studies are described in two USGS publications: Agriculture—A River Runs Through It—The Connections Between Agriculture and Water Quality (Circular 1433) and Understanding the Influences of Nutrients on Stream Ecosystems in Agricultural Landscapes (Circular 1437). Find additional publications under the Publications tab and presentations under the Multimedia tab.
Follow the links below to web pages on topics related to agriculture and water quality.
Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA)
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.
Agriculture — A river runs through it — The connections between agriculture and water quality
National, holistic, watershed-scale approach to understand the sources, transport, and fate of agricultural chemicals
Comparative study of transport processes of nitrogen, phosphorus, and herbicides to streams in five agricultural basins, USA
Pesticide fate and transport throughout unsaturated zones in five agricultural settings, USA
Nitrogen fluxes through unsaturated zones in five agricultural settings across the United States
Limited occurrence of denitrification in four shallow aquifers in agricultural areas of the United States
Riparian Land Use/Land Cover Data for Five Study Units in the Nutrient Enrichment Effects Topical Study of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
Water and agricultural-chemical transport in a Midwestern, tile-drained watershed: Implications for conservation practices
Environmental Setting of the Granger Drain and DR2 Basins, Washington, 2003-04
Simulation of Multiscale Ground-Water Flow in Part of the Northeastern San Joaquin Valley, California
Automated Routines for Calculating Whole-Stream Metabolism: Theoretical Background and User's Guide
Use of a watershed model to characterize the fate and transport of fluometuron, a soil-applied cotton herbicide, in surface water
Occurrence of Agricultural Chemicals in Shallow Ground Water and the Unsaturated Zone, Northeast Nebraska Glacial Till, 2002-04
Intensive studies by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project in agricultural areas provide insight into how agricultural activities have altered the natural flow of water and the way that agricultural chemicals enter streams and aquifers, and in particular how nutrients affect algal and invertebrate communities in agricultural streams.
We all have a connection to agriculture, which supplies a major part of the Nation’s food, feed, and fiber needs. Agricultural chemicals move into and through every component of the hydrologic system, including air, soil, soil water, streams, wetlands, and groundwater.
The results of these NAWQA agricultural-area studies are described in two USGS publications: Agriculture—A River Runs Through It—The Connections Between Agriculture and Water Quality (Circular 1433) and Understanding the Influences of Nutrients on Stream Ecosystems in Agricultural Landscapes (Circular 1437). Find additional publications under the Publications tab and presentations under the Multimedia tab.
Follow the links below to web pages on topics related to agriculture and water quality.
Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA)
Below are multimedia items associated with this project.
Below are publications associated with this project.