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WATER AND WATERSHEDS RESEARCH RESULTS TO BE REVEALED AT CONFERENCEUnder a partnership for environmental research begun in 1994, the National Science Foundation (NSF) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly support the NSF/EPA Water and Watersheds Program. The goal of this program is to improve our understanding of the natural and human-induced processes that affect the quantity, quality and availability of water resources in both natural and human-dominated systems. Results of several projects funded by this program will be presented at the spring American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting, to be held in Boston, Massachusetts, May 26-29, 1998. For more information, contact Cheryl Dybas (703) 292-8070. Contents of this News Tip:
FATE OF MINNESOTA RIVER BASIN INTERTWINED WITH TWIN CITIESThe 40,000-plus-square-mile Minnesota River Basin, with more than 85 percent of its lands used in agriculture, is one of the most polluted watersheds in the nation, according to scientist Patrick Brezonik of the University of Minnesota in St. Paul. Point- and nonpoint-source pollutants enter the Mississippi River where the cities of St. Paul and Minneapolis meet. Brezonik and colleagues believe that improvements are needed in farming practices, wildlife habitat, sewage treatment facilities and pesticide management. At the spring AGU meeting (session H51F-2), Brezonik will present an eight-step process being used to identify, assess, and carry out restoration measures in agriculture-intensive watersheds like the Minnesota River Basin. His presentation will address problem identification, water quality monitoring, evaluation of pollution sources, setting water quality goals and other factors. LOS ANGELES SMOG AFFECTS LOCAL WATERSHEDAs part of UCLA's regional integrated watershed project, scientist Richard Turco is modeling regional air quality in an attempt to understand how this factor affects the health of the L.A. basin watershed. Turco and colleagues will present results of a study on regional air pollutant transport, transformation of these pollutants, and their eventual deposition over the Los Angeles basin and surrounding mountains and coastal waters at the AGU meeting (session H51F-9). Deposition of airborne materials contributes to the total amount of toxic material in various parts of an urban watershed, says Turco, and is one of the key sources affecting the composition of runoff and surface water. Turco will discuss preliminary results of the Surface Meteorology and Ozone Generation modeling system -- SMOG -- which was designed to carry out urban and regional air quality research. SMOG was recently applied to investigate the distribution of pollutants over the Los Angeles basin. HERBICIDE CONTAMINATION TRACED IN VIRGINIA WATERSHEDContamination of streamwater and groundwater by herbicides has become a national concern because of the risk it poses to drinking water supplies, according to scientists at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "While extensive work on this problem has occurred, many questions remain regarding the fate and transport of herbicides in watersheds," says researcher Ken Hyer. George Hornberger, Janet Herman and colleagues are investigating the processes that influence the transport of herbicides in an agricultural watershed system. Their site is Muddy Creek, located in Rockingham County northwest of Harrisonburg, Virginia. The researchers selected the herbicide atrazine for study because it is relatively persistent in the environment. It has been used heavily at the study site, and is the most commonly applied herbicide in the U.S. The scientists monitored Muddy Creek from May through September of 1997, a five-month period just after the application of atrazine on lands surrounding the creek. Atrazine contamination was extensive, explains Hornberger, with the highest levels observed in "overland flow" in a cornfield where atrazine had been applied. Hornberger and his team hope that this study will lead to development of a model for atrazine fate and transport, eventually allowing for mitigation of this herbicide's effects. The research results will be presented at the AGU spring meeting (session H52A-8.)
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