Water Quality

    Water Quality is essential to both groundwater and surface water.  Surface water is naturally exposed to the atmosphere. This includes seas, rivers, and lakes. Surface water is important for drinking water, wildlife habitat, and  recreation. Groundwater is water that slowly seeps down from the surface by migrating through the pores of soil, sand, and rock.  Groundwater is used for irrigation, rural domestic needs, and industrial purposes.  Surface water and groundwater pollution is becoming a major concern today.  Nonpoint pollution source (NPS) -widely dispersed activities is a primary cause.  According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include: excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas; oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production; sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding streambanks; salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines; bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems; atmospheric deposition and hydromodification.  Therefore, we share some responsibility in water pollution by our activities.  What can we do? Visit the following website www.epa.gov/owow/nps/whatudo.html for details.

     To illustrate water quality issues within the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, LMRCC has collected data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, United States Geological Survey, and the United States Department of Agriculture and developed maps.  The first set of  maps (Watershed Indicators) contain information on overall watershed characteristics, fish consumption advisories, conventional and toxic ambient water quality, agricultural runoff potential, aquatic/wetland species at risk, and impaired waters.