New USGS On-Line Water Quality Tool Reports on Mississippi River Basin - Relative Nutrient Loading from Tributaries

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program  has launched a new online graphical data tool to provide data on national ambient water-quality conditions by annually summarizing nutrient and sediment concentrations and loads, along with flow information for 106 river and stream sites across the country, including in the Mississippi River Basin. NAWQA Program Chief William Wilber reports that the tool can be used to:

• compare recent water-quality conditions to long-term conditions (1993-2013) at each site,
• download water-quality data sets (streamflow, concentrations, and loads), and
• evaluate nutrient loading to coastal areas and large tributaries throughout the Mississippi River Basin.

Graphical summaries are available for river and stream sites monitored as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Network for Streams and Rivers, which includes sites in the NAWQA Program, the National Stream-Quality Accounting Network, the Cooperative Water Program, and the National Water-Quality Monitoring Council National Monitoring Network.

The monitoring information will be updated annually to provide water resource managers with timely information to track how loading and concentrations change over time in response to nutrient reduction actions.  USGS plans to incorporate pesticide data into future updates.

Persons should contact William Wilber (telephone: (703) 648-6878; email: wgwilber@usgs.gov) with questions or feedback regarding the online tool or any other components of the NAWQA Program.