Spacer
USGS - Science for a Changing World
National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA)
Spacer Home
About the Program
What's New
Study Units
National Synthesis
Compounds Measured
Data
Publications
Summary Reports
Maps
How to Request Information
Glossary
Links
Contacts Topical Studies

Spacer

 

Uses of Information for Best Management Practices

East Columbia Basin, Washington—On the basis of NAWQA findings on irrigation practices and their impacts on water chemistry and stream biota in the Central Columbia Plateau, the East Columbia Basin Irrigation District recommended a shift from furrow to sprinkler irrigation. These changes, which are supported by an USEPA grant, will reduce the loss of soil from irrigated cropland and minimize transport of contaminants that attach to soil particles, such as DDT.

Rockingham County, Virginia—NAWQA findings on nutrients, pesticides, and bacteria levels in the Muddy Creek basin in Rockingham County, Virginia showed significant degradation because of dairy and poultry farming and intensive row cropping. The information was used by Rockingham County and other watershed organizations to move forward with fencing alternatives and other land-management practices to protect the basin’s water resources. The county accelerated these changes when the information was placed in a national context, which ranked water quality in Muddy Creek among the most degraded of all agricultural streams (about 120) sampled by USGS.

NAWQA Intranet (Internal Use Only)

     
       

 U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
 Contact for NAWQA: nawqa_whq@usgs.gov
 Maintainer: James Ulrich- julrich@usgs.gov
 Privacy Statement || Accessibility
 document URL- http://
 Last Update: