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Landscape Drivers of Dynamic Change in Water Quality of U.S. Rivers
journal contribution
posted on 2020-03-26, 21:03 authored by Edward G. Stets, Lori A. Sprague, Gretchen P. Oelsner, Hank M. Johnson, Jennifer C. Murphy, Karen Ryberg, Aldo V. Vecchia, Robert E. Zuellig, James A. Falcone, Melissa L. RiskinWater security is
a top concern for social well-being, and dramatic
changes in the availability of freshwater have occurred as a result
of human uses and landscape management. Elevated nutrient loading
and perturbations to major ion composition have resulted from human
activities and have degraded freshwater resources. This study addresses
the emerging nature of streamwater quality in the 21st century through
analysis of concentrations and trends in a wide variety of constituents
in streams and rivers of the U.S. Concentrations of 15 water quality
constituents including nutrients, major ions, sediment, and specific
conductance were analyzed over the period 1982–2012 and a targeted
trend analysis was performed from 1992 to 2012. Although environmental
policy is geared toward addressing the long-standing problem of nutrient
overenrichment, these efforts have had uneven success, with decreasing
nutrient concentrations at urbanized sites and little to no change
at agricultural sites. Additionally, freshwaters are being salinized
rapidly in all human-dominated land use types. While efforts to control
nutrients are ongoing, rapid salinity increases are ushering in a
new set of poorly defined issues. Increasing salinity negatively affects
biodiversity, mobilizes sediment-bound contaminants, and increases
lead contamination of drinking water, but its effects are not well
integrated into current paradigms of water management.
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Dynamic Changelandscape DriversWater Qualitycontrol nutrientsmobilizes sediment-bound contaminantshuman-dominated land use typesstreamwater qualitydrinking water21 st centurystudy addresseseffortlandscape managementtrend analysissite15 water quality constituentsrivers Water securityconcentrationU.Ssalinity increasesion compositionwater management
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