Land Use Effects on Water Quality
Land Use Effects on Water Quality
The WAWSC monitors and conducts research on how different types and intensities of land use, like urbanization, forestry and agriculture, affect water quality, as well as the effectiveness of measures designed to protect water quality in streams and lakes within basins with varying levels of human activity. Changes in the type and extent of land cover can result in some similar and unique changes in water chemistry. The WAWSC staff of hydrologist, chemists, biologist, remote sensing scientist and modelers utilizes state of the art real time and remote land cover methods and water chemistry and biological approaches to identify the role land use plays in influencing water quality. Water quality variables examined include such parameters as temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen as well as nutrients, pesticides, metals, pharmaceuticals, and organic compounds like PBDEs and PAHs. Staff scientists evaluate the relationships between these compounds, as well as recently developed compounds, with sophisticated mathematical models to inform resource managers and planners with the information they need to make effective decisions.
Filter Total Items: 35
Integration of Urban Stormwater Infrastructure in Modeling Water Quality Patterns in Small Urban Streams
The Issue: Stormwater can quickly run off impervious surfaces delivering potentially polluted water to streams and rivers in the Puget Sound region. Runoff from impervious surfaces can either be directly connected to streams through stormwater pipes or indirectly connected if runoff is routed to some other surface such as grass or a feature like a stormwater management structure. It is currently...
Green-Duwamish Watershed 6PPD-q small stream monitoring
Pacific salmon and trout, especially coho, are threatened by a toxic contaminant resulting from tire additives that end up in untreated road runoff. This contaminant, 6PPD-q, has been associated with high rates of coho pre-spawn mortality in streams, including in the Green-Duwamish watershed. Many coho spawning streams in the watershed are predicted to be at high risk for “urban runoff mortality...
Stormwater Action Monitoring (SAM)
The issue: Stormwater runoff often carries pollutants that degrade water quality in receiving waters. A regional-scale monitoring program is necessary to objectively measure and track progress in reducing stormwater impacts on environmental health. How USGS will help: Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are monitoring water quality and watershed health for urban and urbanizing areas...
Baseline assessment of PAH concentrations in fish from the Stillaguamish River, Washington
The Issue: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a class of oil-derived compounds widely distributed in fresh and marine waters. They pose a significant toxicity risk to fish. It can be challenging to pinpoint the source of PAHs found in wild fish populations. PAHs are widespread and come from many sources, so it is hard to determine whether fish exposure is event-related or consistent with...
Water Availability for Tribal Treaty Rights in Western Washington
The Issue: Native American treaty rights depend on the availability of adequate and high-quality streamflow across the Western Washington, which can be degraded by water and land use, reservoir operations, and climate change among other factors. Streamflow during critical low-flow periods depend on groundwater discharge from aquifers, which also is vulnerable to human activities in the Western...
Puget Sound, WA Nutrient SPARROW Model
The Issue: Puget Sound watershed nutrient loads are known to have an impact on marine water quality along with wastewater treatment plants discharging to Puget Sound. To effectively reduce and control nutrient loads to the Sound, the Washington State Department of Ecology needs a regional watershed model that fits within their Puget Sound Nutrient Source Reduction Project’s management framework...
Analysis of USGS Surface Water Monitoring Networks
The issue: National interests in water information are important but challenging to incorporate into planning and operation of a monitoring network driven by local information needs. These interests include an understanding of the spatial variability in water availability across the United States, anthro-physical factors including climate and land use that affect water availability, and federal...
Nooksack river basin continuous nitrate monitoring
The issue: Learning more about where and how much nitrates there are in the Nooksack river basin. How USGS will help: Provide continuous nitrate concentration data at three locations. Provide validation water samples analyzing for nitrate concentration. Compute nitrate load estimates using stream discharge data coupled with newly collected nitrate concentration data.
Water Temperature Mapping in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish River Basins
The Skykomish, Snoqualmie, and Middle Fork Snoqualmie River Basins have historically provided critical spawning, rearing, and core habitat for several salmonid species.
Central Columbia Plateau - Yakima River Basin
The issue: Agriculture and irrigation are major forces in Central Washington. Intensive land and water management practices may lead to water quality issues. In the Central Columbia Plateau and Yakima River Basin (CCYK), water quality issues include high nutrient loading resulting in eutrophication, elevated concentrations of water-soluble pesticides, and elevated concentrations of organochlorine...
Puget Sound Basin NAWQA
The Puget Sound Basin (PUGT) study unit of the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program encompasses a 13,700-square-mile area that drains to Puget Sound and adjacent marine waters. Included in this region are all or part of 13 counties in western Washington, as well as the headwaters of the Skagit River and part of the Nooksack River in British Columbia, Canada. The Puget Sound Basin...
Stillaguamish Emerging Contaminants
Emerging contaminants are a group of chemical compounds that generally include pharmaceuticals, personal-care products, surfactants, industrial and household chemicals, and food additives. Their presence in the environment is typically associated with discharges from wastewater treatment-plants (WWTP), on-site septic systems, and some animal production operations. They are of particular interest...