Why Examine Nonpoint Sources of Water Pollution?
The degradation of water resources from nonpoint sources of pollution is an important national issue. In fact, most water-quality problems are caused by diffuse “nonpoint” sources of pollution from agricultural land, urban development, forest harvesting and the atmosphere. During the past 10 years through more than 50 studies, the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) has documented significant nonpoint source contaminant patterns in some of the nation’s most heavily used river basins and aquifers. NAWQA findings show that nonpoint source pollution is not just an agricultural problem; some of the greatest impacts on water quality and aquatic communities have been documented in urbanizing watersheds. USGS scientist Pixie Hamilton will discuss the importance of science in understanding nonpoint sources of water pollution in the Challenging and Changing Nature track on Saturday, Feb. 15 from 8:30a.m. to 10 a.m. Applying Science to Landslide Forecasting: In the past severa
