Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

2016 - Memorandum Of Understanding For Integrated Regional Water Management In The Greater Monterey County Region With Amendments Through December 2016

Miscellaneous Monterey and San Luis Obispo County Documents and Reports

An Integrated Regional Water Management Plan (IRWM Plan) developed by 18 member entities that include government agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational organizations, water service districts, private water companies, and organizations representing agricultural, environmental, and community interests. The IRWM Plan is an expansion and modification of a previous plan – the May 2006 Salinas Valley Integrated Regional Water Management Functionally Equivalent Plan developed by Monterey County Water Resources Agency. This MOU recognizes the joint commitment of the undersigned parties to develop an IRWM Plan for the Greater Monterey County Region. The MOU does not impose any further commitments or obligations upon any …

Environmental Fate And Microbial Effects Of Monensin, Lincomycin, And Sulfamethazine Residues In Soil, Matteo D'Alessio, Lisa M. Durso, Daniel N. Miller, Brian Woodbury, Chittaranjan Ray, Daniel D. Snow

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

The impact of commonly-used livestock antibiotics on soil nitrogen transformations under varying redox conditions is largely unknown. Soil column incubations were conducted using three livestock antibiotics (monensin, lincomycin and sulfamethazine) to better understand the fate of the antibiotics, their effect on nitrogen transformation, and their impact on soil microbial communities under aerobic, anoxic, and denitrifying conditions. While monensin was not recovered in the effluent, lincomycin and sulfamethazine concentrations decreased slightly during transport through the columns. Sorption, and to a limited extent degradation, are likely to be the primary processes leading to antibiotic attenuation during leaching. Antibiotics also affected microbial respiration …

Isotopic And Geochemical Analysis Of Nitrate Contaminated Groundwater In Edgar, Nebraska, Nathan Roddy

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

High nitrate concentrations in the groundwater beneath Edgar, Nebraska have been measured for well over a decade, exceeding the EPA’s MCL of 10 mg-N/L. Investigating the isotopic signature of nitrate and groundwater have determined the likely source(s) of contamination. Apparent seasonal changes exists in nitrate concentration, isotope ratios, and geochemistry, suggesting that sources and flow paths change as a result of irrigation. Samples collected in December and May had very similar nitrate concentrations (average value of 13.7 mg-N/L) and isotopic ratios (δ¹⁵N 4.46‰ and δ¹⁸O-NO₃ 20.21‰), suggesting synthetic nitrate fertilizers are the major source of …

Column Tests Of Nitrate Breakthrough Behavior In Subsurface Sediments To Understand Transport In The Root-Zone, Rebecca Sally Haworth, Emma Rose Goodwin

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

Nitrate has become an increasingly ubiquitous pollutant in surface and groundwater, posing a threat to hu- man health and ecosystems. Nitrogen is a necessary nutrient for plant growth and is limiting in many soils. As a result, farmers often add nitrogen to soil in a usable form such as nitrate, nitrite, or ammonia through the addition of fertilizer.

Locate And Mitigate The State Of Nitrate: Assessing Potential Sources Of Nutrients In Tributaries To The Nooksack River, Alyssa Peter, Melanie Roy

Scholars Week

Anthropogenic activities greatly increase the amount of nitrogen entering our environment. While this allows for increased agriculture production, excess nitrogen raises health concerns for humans and ecosystems. Understanding the sources of excess nutrients is necessary for effective efforts to reduce them. We aimed to understand nutrient fluxes through tributaries to the Nooksack River, in particular, to what extent are excess nutrients arriving to northern Whatcom County from Canada via both surface and ground water. We collected water samples from three creeks fed by the central portion of the Sumas-Blaine aquifer (Kamm, Fishtrap, and Bertrand), two situated at the southern edge …

Toward Deeper Development Of Biogeochemical-Argo Floats, Xiao Gang Xing, Hervé Claustre, Emmanuel Boss, Fei Chai

Marine Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Following a series of publications reporting on successful long-term deployments of profiling floats with various biogeochemical sensors (e.g. Boss et al. 2008; Johnson, Riser, and Karl 2010; Körtzinger et al. 2004) and years of international coordination, the BGC-Argo program was officially launched in October 2016, as an extension of the Argo Program (Biogeochemical-Argo Planning Group 2016; Johnson and Claustre 2016). The objectives of the BGC-Argo Program are to establish and sustain an array with 1000 floats within five years. Similar to Argo, this is a coordinated, voluntary, distributed, and multinational network of profiling floats, but with a significant addition of …

The Impact Of Land Use On Nitrate-N Movement And Storage In The Vadose Zone Of The Hastings’ Whpa, Craig Adams

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Nebraska has one of the largest agricultural economies in the United States and relies heavily on irrigation and fertilizer application to maintain crop yields. Over-irrigation and continuous application of nitrogen (N) in many areas has led to accumulation of nitrate-N in soils and sediments throughout the state’s vadose zone. Because nitrate-N is both persistent and mobile, groundwater concentrations in many areas of Nebraska and other agriculturally intensive states are increasing. Nitrate-N contamination of public and private drinking water supplies that utilize groundwater are of particular concern. Vadose zone sampling is an important method for rapidly assessing the effect of changing …

Salish Sea Model Ecosystem - Lower Trophic: Episodic Nutrient Supply In The Northern Strait Of Georgia, Elise Olson, Susan E. Allen

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Salish Sea Model Ecosystem - Lower Trophic (SMELT) is a three-dimensional biogeochemical model coupled to a NEMO-based physical model of the Salish Sea, run operationally at UBC as part of the SalishSeaCast system. In this presentation, we will first establish the model's skill at reproducing nitrate concentrations by comparison with data from the Pacific Salmon Foundation’s citizen science program and Institute of Ocean Sciences repeat surveys. We will then discuss episodic nitrate supply to the surface waters of the northwest Strait of Georgia. This phenomenon is evident as a region of elevated mean (March-November) and standard deviation (April-September) of surface …

Analysis Of Clancy Drinking Water Contamination From On–Site Septic System Effluent, Matt Strozewski

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Clancy, a small unincorporated town in Montana, is situated 11 miles southwest of Helena at the confluence of Clancy and Prickly Pear Creeks. Currently Clancy residences have only on-site drinking water wells and septic systems. Drinking water testing in 2012 and 2017 found nitrate levels exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 mg/L in some of the residential drinking water wells. Elevated nitrate levels can cause a significant health concern for infants due to methemoglobinemia (Blue Baby Syndrome).

Due to the continued detection of elevated nitrate levels in Clancy’s on–site drinking water wells further research …

Characterization Of Groundwater And Surface Water Geochemistry In An Agricultural Setting At Eku Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, Reid E. Buskirk, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Agricultural activities often contaminate watersheds with excess nutrients leading to poor water quality and eutrophication. Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Meadowbrook Farm raises crops and livestock, which contribute dissolved nutrients to the neighboring Muddy Creek watershed. Consequently, the Farm is developing methods to sequester phosphorous and limit nutrient contamination.

Before phosphorous sequestration methods can be tested, Farm surface water and groundwater geochemistry must be better understood to determine hydrological pathways for nutrients. We use naturally-occurring dissolved cations, pH, oxidation-reduction potential (ORP), specific conductivity (SC), dissolved oxygen (DO%), total hardness, and alkalinity as chemical tracers to parse the contribution of dissolved ions …

Nutrient Export From A Proximal Intermittent Stream Draining Eku Meadowbrook Farm, Madison County, Kentucky, James Scott Winter, Walter S. Borowski, Jonathan M. Malzone

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Agricultural activities contribute significant amounts of nutrients that contaminate surface and subsurface water. Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) Meadowbrook Farm (Madison County, Kentucky) seeks to decrease its export of nutrients to Muddy Creek using sequestration techniques. The first step in the overall process is to determine nutrient export at present, before sequestration efforts take place. Here we estimate the export of phosphate, nitrate, and ammonium during Tropical Storm Cindy (July 22 to 24, 2017) from a proximal, intermittent stream, named the BRC. This stream drains a representative portion the Farm, receiving water from a dairy complex, pasture, and cropland.

To estimate …

A Sample Stacking-Capillary Electrophoresis Method For Simultaneous Determination Of Nitrate And Thiocyanate Ions Of Ultra-Heat-Treated Milk Samples, Fi̇li̇z Tezcan

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Ultra-heat-treated (UHT) cow milk is mostly consumed in Turkey. Heating milk can cause some chemical and biochemical changes that affect different components of milk. However, studies on the constituents of UHT milk are scare. In the present study, nitrate and thiocyanate contents of commercial UHT~whole cow milk were determined simultaneously by sample stacking-capillary electrophoresis. The best separation of nitrate and thiocyanate ions was performed by reducing the electroosmotic flow at pH 4.0 using 30 mM formic acid and 30 mM sodium sulfate containing separation electrolyte. Analysis was completed in less than 3 min. The limits of detection obtained at a …