Articles from October 2016

A graph showing the Cedar River hydrograph-nitragraph animation

Cedar River Hydrograph-Nitragraph animation

Thursday, October 27, 2016
My last post discussed how Cedar River nitrate loading responded to flood of late September. This post builds on that with some excellent animations created by my colleague, Antonio Arenas.
Sandbags holding back water

Nitrate Loads Associated with Cedar River Flood

Tuesday, October 11, 2016
The flood of 2008 delivered a lot of nitrate-nitrogen to the stream network, where it then reaches the Mississippi River and eventually the Gulf of Mexico. Elevated nutrients in the Gulf cause hypoxia, an area of depleted dissolved oxygen where fish and other ocean life cannot survive.
Left to Right: Jim Gillespie (IDALS), Maritza Pierre (SASA), Chris Jones (IIHR), Tim Smith (Farmer from Eagle Grove), Hanna Bates (Iowa Water Center), Adam Wright (SASA)

Plate of the Union Water Quality Panel Discussion

Tuesday, October 11, 2016
In 2016, the Iowa State University Sustainable Agriculture Student Association (SASA) received a national grant from the Plate of the Union Campus Challenge. Part of this sponsorship included hosting a panel on water quality issues.
Water flows from a wall into a stream

Groundwater Nitrate Monitoring

Friday, October 7, 2016
Most of the Iowa Water Quality Information System network is devoted to stream sampling. However, two sensors have been measuring nitrate in groundwater springs at the Iowa DNR Big Spring and Manchester fish hatcheries for the past year. Conclusion: nitrate in northeast Iowa groundwater is really high.
A river with a bridge running over it and trees around the sides

September and Year-to-Date nitrate, Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers

Wednesday, October 5, 2016
September 2016 was the biggest N loading month of September ever for the Des Moines River. There has been a lot of fall loading on both rivers the last 2-3 years.