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Freshwater Explorer Beta V. 0.1: A story map of water quality
Citation:
Cormier, S., C. Wharton, I. Bertani, AND J. Olson. Freshwater Explorer Beta V. 0.1: A story map of water quality. Monitoring and Assessment Partnership Webinar, webinar, November 19, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
1. Fresh water is a valuable asset for drinking water, agriculture, industry, and aquatic life. When mineral or nutrient levels get too high, harmful algal blooms can occur and water can become toxic to people, livestock and aquatic life and for use in agricultural and industrial processes. 2. The US EPA has joined measured and background data sets to help visualize conductivity data with respect to background water quality. The Freshwater Explorer provides information on the status of water resources for a network of streams in 50 states and Puerto Rico color-coded for calculated background and measured freshness, i.e., low salt and mineral content. 3. The national view shows abundant freshwater in the South, East and mountainous West. Streams with background conductivity retain low dissolved mineral concentrations even during droughts. At local levels, differences between calculated background and measured conductivity can be useful for water resource management. This combination of information is useful for states to work with communities and regulated entities to find the right balance of protection and use of fresh water. 4. This presentation is for the more than 400 federal, state and other entities that that have contributed their data to the U.S. EPA Office of Water's Water Quality Portal.
Description:
Fresh water is a valuable asset for drinking water, agriculture, industry, and aquatic life. When mineral or nutrient levels get too high, harmful algal blooms can occur and water can become toxic to people, livestock and aquatic life and for use in agricultural and industrial processes. The US EPA has joined measured and background data sets to help visualize conductivity data with respect to background water quality. The Freshwater Explorer provides information on the status of water resources for a network of streams in 50 states and Puerto Rico color-coded for calculated background and measured freshness, i.e., low salt and mineral content. The national view shows abundant freshwater in the South, East and mountainous West. Streams with background conductivity retain low dissolved mineral concentrations even during droughts. At local levels, differences between calculated background and measured conductivity can be useful for water resource management. This combination of information is useful for states to work with communities and regulated entities to find the right balance of protection and use of fresh water. The views are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the policies of the U.S. EPA.