Media Advisory: Congressional Briefing on Nutrients and Pesticides in the Nation’s Rivers and Streams

The Water Environment Federation (WEF) and the Northeast Midwest Institute invite you to a briefing by the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) on findings of trends in nutrients and pesticides in the Nation's streams and rivers. The briefing will primarily focus on the Mississippi River Basin, which covers about 40% of the nation and represents a wide range of important climatic, agricultural, and urban influences that are present throughout the country.

As Congress debates federal activities and funding for water-quality protection and restoration efforts, it is critical to know how conditions are actually changing over time and to understand why changes have occurred. From NAWQA monitoring, we now know that nitrate loadings from the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico increased 14 percent from 1980 to 2010 despite extensive efforts to improve and expand the use of urban and agricultural management practices during the period. Have governmental actions been effective or are other influences causing the changes?

The briefing will also include findings from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) efforts to assess the health of the Nation’s estuaries and will explain how information and findings from NAWQA’s monitoring and assessments contribute to their assessments and the protection of our estuaries.

Who: Alan Vicory, Principal – Stantec Consulting & Chair – WEF Government Affairs Committee, Moderator
Lori Sprague, Coordinator – NAWQA Surface-Water Trends, U.S. Geological Survey
Suzanne Bricker, NOAA National Center for Coastal Ocean Science

When: Friday, April 11, 2014
10:00AM – 11:30AM

Where:  Congressional Room South, CVC 217
Washington, D.C.

Following presentations by the two speakers, there will be time for questions and discussion from the audience. This briefing is free and open to the public. Please RSVP to cbarbour@usgs.gov. If you did not respond, you must show a picture ID. For more information, contact Ethan Alpern.