Transcript Joining Forces presentation 2009

Joining Forces to Assess
Water Quality in Rural
North Dakota
February 10, 2009
Roxanne Johnson
Water Quality Associate
Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering
NDSU Fargo, North Dakota
North Dakota
The Roughrider State
President Theodore Roosevelt
State Population 642,200
36,567
49,321
16,010
90,995
55,532
16,718
15,527
14,940
Rural Water Systems
Needs Assessment
Spring
Conference
2008
Needs Assessment Results
Importance of
Water Quality
Confidence in
responding to
WQ questions
Rank of
Importance
Human Water Quality
Livestock Water Quality
Human Water Quantity
Livestock Water Quantity
Needs Assessment Results
Public Concern as Stated to County Agents
1. BMP’s on rangeland
2. Small acreage ownership
3. Urban/agriculture interface
Needs Assessment Results
County Agents Response to
BMP’s & Production Agriculture
1. Salinity issues (soil & water)
2. Livestock drinking water quality
3. Nutrient impacts to surface and ground water
Needs Assessment Results
Water Conservation and Protection
Water Policies
1. Industrial water use (biofuels, oil)
2. Water Conservation
3. Water permitting process
Needs Assessment Results
Agricultural Water Conservation and Protection
Tile Drainage
Permitting process – somewhat concerned
Water discharge – somewhat to not concerned
Needs Assessment Results
Livestock Drinking Water
1. Testing water
2. Quality of water
3. Understanding the test result
Needs Assessment Results
Human Drinking Water
1. Quality of water
2. Contamination of water source
3. Understanding test results
Our Response
Test Water Samples at Field Days Across the State
• Proposal to Research
Center Directors
• News releases developed
for state and
local papers
Our Response
Test Water Samples at Field Days Across the State
• Agreement with private laboratory for
reduced bacteria test pricing
• Sent packets to each
county including sterile
bottles and sampling information
Field Days 2008
Field Days 2008
Comments:
Very hard water
Smelly, bad color, bad odor
Bacteria
Replace faucets often,
yellows laundry
White spots on grass
Brown
Causes throat pain
Field Days 2008
Sample source:
Barn
House – pre & post treatment
Slough
Dam
Well
Rural water system
Field Days 2008
Nitrates (NO3-N)
Hach colorometric
Human drinking water - 10mg/L
Livestock - <90mg/L
Our findings:
0->50mg/L
2 samples in SW ND 10mg/L
1 sample in central ND at >50mg/L
Field Days 2008
TDS
Hand held EC meter
Our findings: <100 – 16,000mg/L
2 blind cows
Recommended levels:
Human drinking water - < 500 mg/L
Livestock water - < 5,000mg/L
Field Days 2008
pH
Handheld meter
Our findings 7.0 – 10.3
Most in the 8-9 range
Field Days 2008
Hardness
Hach titration method
Largest water quality
complaint
Our findings – majority >25 grains
Conclusions
More education needed for private well users.
More education needed for county staff in sampling
and understanding results and treatment.
Speed up process by purchasing new equipment for
next year.
Keep samples for future educational opportunities.
Work more closely with counties on advertising.
Share data with MPU’s.
Impacts
Face to face +150 people
livestock
private well owners
rural water
irrigation
Children watching with great interest!!!
Impacts
Interviews with TV, radio, news
papers.
Raised awareness of county agents,
experiment stations and
staff…some even brought in
samples from the experiment
stations!
Questions?