Agriculture and the Quality of the Nation's Waters Active
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
Environmental and Biological Data of the Nutrient Enrichment Effects on Stream Ecosystems Project of the National Water Quality Assessment Program, 2003-04
Algal and Invertebrate Community Composition along Agricultural Gradients: A Comparative Study from Two Regions of the Eastern United States
Estimating Water Fluxes Across the Sediment-Water Interface in the Lower Merced River, California
Occurrence and fate of pesticides in four contrasting agricultural settings in the United States
Transport and fate of nitrate at the ground-water/surface-water interface
Pesticides in rain in four agricultural watersheds in the United States
Variations in pesticide leaching related to land use, pesticide properties, and unsaturated zone thickness
Using heat to characterize streambed water flux variability in four stream reaches
Pesticide fate and transport throughout unsaturated zones in five agricultural settings, USA
Chemical and toxicologic assessment of organic contaminants in surface water using passive samplers
Simulated fate and transport of metolachlor in the unsaturated zone, Maryland, USA
National, holistic, watershed-scale approach to understand the sources, transport, and fate of agricultural chemicals
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.