The quality of our nation's waters: Nutrients in the nation's streams and groundwater, 1992-2004

Abstract

For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit http://store.usgs.gov Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report.Suggested reference: Dubrovsky, N.M., Burow, K.R., Clark, G.M., Gronberg, J.M., Hamilton P.A., Hitt, K.J., Mueller, D.K., Munn, M.D., Nolan, B.T., Puckett, L.J., Rupert, M.G., Short, T.M., Spahr, N.E., Sprague, L.A., and Wilber, W.G., 2010, The quality of our Nation's waters-Nutrients in the Nation's streams and groundwater, 1992-2004: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1350, 174 p. Additional information about this study is available at http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/nutrients/pubs/circ1350 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataThe quality of our Nation's waters : nutrients in the Nation's streams and groundwater, 1992-2004 ForewordThe U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is committed to providing the Nation with reliable scientific information that helps to enhance and protect the overall quality of life and that facilitates effective management of water, biological, energy, and mineral resources (http://www.usgs.gov/). Information on the Nation's water resources is critical to ensuring long-term availability of water that is safe for drinking and recreation and is suitable for industry, irrigation, and fish and wildlife. Population growth and increasing demands for water make the availability of that water, now measured in terms of quantity and quality, even more essential to the long-term sustainability of our communities and ecosystems.The USGS implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991 to support national, regional, state, and local information needs and decisions related to water-quality management and policy (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa). The NAWQA Program is designed to answer: What is the quality of our Nation's streams and groundwater? How are conditions changing over time? How do natural features and human activities affect the quality of streams and groundwater, and where are those effects most pronounced? By combining information on water chemistry, physical characteristics, stream habitat, and aquatic life, the NAWQA Program aims to provide science-based insights for current and emerging water issues and priorities. From 1991to 2001, the NAWQA Program completed interdisciplinary assessments and established a baseline understanding of waterquality conditions in 51 of the Nation's river basins and aquifers, referred to as Study Units (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/studyu.ht...

Influences of natural and anthropogenic factors on surface and groundwater quality in rural and urban areas

“…source output and location, speciation and concentration, seasonal variation, mode of loading (continuous versus sporadic) and bioavailability (Withers and Jarvie 2008). Across the various areas, fertilizers and septic leachate are the primary sources of nitrate concentrations that are higher than drinking water thresholds in groundwater used for public supply (Dubrovsky et al 2010). Potential effects of eutrophication in water bodies are: increased biomass of phytoplankton and macrophyte vegetation, growth of benthic and epiphytic algae, increased blooms of gelatinous zooplankton (marine environment), increased toxins from bloom-forming algal species, reduced carbon availability to food webs, loss of commercial and sport fisheries, reduced diversity of habitats, loss of coral reef communities, increased taste and odour problems due to an increase in mineral contents, dissolved oxygen depletion, increased treatment costs prior to human use, and decreased aesthetic value of the water body (US EPA 1990; Smith and Schindler 2009).…”

A lagged variable model for characterizing temporally dynamic export of legacy anthropogenic nitrogen from watersheds to rivers

“…Various management efforts have been implemented to control excessive N in riverine ecosystems, as it degrades aquatic ecosystem health, decreases water quality for several beneficial uses, and causes eutrophication and hypoxia in downstream freshwater and coastal waters (Sun et al 2013;Li et al 2014). Despite a significant decline in anthropogenic N inputs with the implementation of the Clean Water Act (1972) in the USA and the Nitrate Directive (1991) in Europe, riverine N concentrations continue to increase in many areas, such as the Mississippi River, Chesapeake Bay, North Sea, and Baltic Sea (Worrall et al 2009;Dubrovsky and Hamilton 2010;Bouraoui and Grizzetti Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s11356-015-4377-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. 2014).…”

Effects of inset floodplains and hyporheic exchange induced by in-stream structures on nitrate removal in a headwater stream

“…We varied influent boundary NO 3 − concentrations from 0.5 mg/L to 3 mg/L (all NO 3 − concentrations expressed as N) in a sensitivity analysis, as a typical range for mixed land-use streams (Dubrovsky et al, 2010). We accomplished this in the model using a mass flowrate injection into the boundary cells, where we set the mass flowrate amount to give the desired concentration in the cells immediately downstream from the injection point.…”