Watershed Studies

Less control than in experimental plots, realistic scenarios

Difficult scale

Long-term monitoring needed to fully evaluate
temporal and climatic variability, time lag

Allows analysis of different parts of a watershed
(headwaters versus core)

Big Spring, Iowa
Overview of project and results

Section 319 - CWA (NPS)

National monitoring program (20)
Documentation of problems, pollutants, clearly defined delivery system
Comprehensive watershed description
Appropriate watershed implementation plan for BMPs
Monitoring that has a high probability of documenting changes
Well-defined information, education, and technology transfer built in

Walnut Creek, Iowa
Overview of project and results

What is the implication of these two projects?

Hypoxia

http://www.smm.org/DeadZone/top.html
Science Museum of Minnesota on-line display about hypoxia with graphics, movies
The graphic on how the stratification and nitrate work together is very good.

http://www.nos.noaa.gov/products/pubs_hypox.html
National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science
Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Assessment
This is an official site for information. The final integrated assessment posted as of May 2000, also contains public comments.
Note who provided comments. The public comments make for interesting reading but not required.
Read the Executive Summary for the Final Integrated Assessment. I will present material in class from the whole report

Nitrogen in the Mississippi Basin-Estimating Sources and Predicting Flux to the Gulf of Mexico
http://ks.water.usgs.gov/Kansas/pubs/fact-sheets/fs.135-00.html
This is a fact sheet on the USGS research into sources. Read this.

http://www.epa.gov/msbasin/actionplan.htm
This is the action plan. Read the goals and strategies for fixing the problem.

What is hypoxia? How and why does it occur?
What causes hypoxia?
Where do the problems arise that lead to hypoxia?
What are the characteristics of the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone?
What are the social and economic dimensions of hypoxia?
What can we do to reduce the hypoxia problem?

The Assessment Process
As part of a process of considering options for response to hypoxia, the EPA formed the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force during the Fall of 1997. The Task Force asked the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy to conduct a scientific assessment of the causes and consequences of Gulf hypoxia through its Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR). A plan to develop the assessment was completed in March of 1998 and presented to a Task Force convened by the EPA which includes federal, state and tribal government representatives. More recently, the charge to submit an assessment of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico was written into law at the end of the 105th Congress (Section 604a of P.L. 105-383).

In addition to this assessment, P.L. 105-383 calls for the development of a plan of action to reduce, mitigate, and control hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The Action Plan will be developed by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force. The integrated assessment is intended to provide scientific information as a basis of the Action Plan but it is not intended to make recommendations for action nor is it the only source of information that will be considered in developing the Action Plan.

So what is in the action plan?

Hypoxia Discussion

Group B, due Feb 24

So what should we do about hypoxia?
What do you think of the goals set by the task force - too little, too much?
What is the best approach to take? How should we spend the money?
What should we monitor to see if we are meeting the nitrogen reduction goal?