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Monitoring Water Quality Using ArcView GIS . Lindsay Chischilly Mentor: Dr. Don Huggins Will Spotts Jeff Anderson Kansas Biological Survey Haskell Indian Nations University. Overview. Nonpoint Source Pollution Water Quality Research Methods
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Monitoring Water Quality Using ArcView GIS • Lindsay Chischilly • Mentor: Dr. Don Huggins Will Spotts Jeff Anderson • Kansas Biological Survey • Haskell Indian Nations University
Overview • Nonpoint Source Pollution • Water Quality Research Methods • Geographic Information Systems • Results of Monitoring Program
Definition of Terms • Nonpoint Source Pollution (NPSP)- the broad range of pollution with no specific point of origin. Sources of NPSP include agriculture, industries, and mining. NPSP is weather dependent and not yet subject to federal regulations.
Definition of Terms (continued) • Point Source Pollution-point sources generally enter receiving water bodies at some identifiable site(s) and carry pollutants whose generation is controlled by some internal process or activity, rather than weather.
Clean Water Farms Project • 33 farms in eastern Kansas were given federal grant money to address local water quality management issues. • 8 farms are monitored by the Kansas Biological Survey.
Purpose of CWFP Monitoring Program • Detect changes in NPSP at the field level. • Relate changes in nutrient and herbicide concentrations to changes in land management.
Methods • Sampling Devices Lysimeter Automatic Runoff Sampler • Geographic Information Systems
Methods (continued) • Lysimeters-uses a vacuum and then pressure to collect groundwater at depths of one, four, and eight feet. The eight foot tube are the most reliable samplers.
Methods (continued) • Automatic Runoff Sampler-used to collect eight samples of surface runoff over the first three hours of a storm.
GIS Overview • Computer system capable of holding and using data to describe places on the earth’s surface. • Manipulate, analyze, store, and display spatial data. • Links data to geographic locations
Sources of Variation • Seasonal Land Management Tilling and Planting Herbicide Application Compost Spreading Crop Rotation • Rainfall Event Frequency, Intensity and Duration
Conclusions • GIS is a creative tool to help visualize and analyze the issues affecting water quality. • There are many contributing factors in the overall water quality in agricultural landscapes. • Groundwater concentrations of TP are more variable than TN over space and time. • Need more time to identify and quantify the specific effects of land management on agricultural water quality.