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.
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