National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA)

The National Water-Quality Assessment Program assesses ground water and streams in the South Platte and Central Nebraska Basins, covering large areas of intensive agriculture, as well as the Lincoln metropolitan area. Among the issues addressed by the Program are elevated nutrients and pesticides from agricultural activities, which potentially affect public-water supplies withdrawn from the Platte River and the alluvial aquifer. Studies of the transport and transformation of pesticides and nutrients in both surface and ground water and a study of the ground-water transport of man-made and natural contaminants to public water-supply wells are under way. NAWQA also assesses ground water throughout much of Nebraska as part of the multi-state High Plains Regional Ground-Water study. This High Plains study assesses elevated salinity, chloride and sulfate, as well as fills critical data gaps on pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and trace metals.

NAWQA Studies in Nebraska

• Central Nebraska Basins
• South Platte River Basin
• High Plains Regional Ground Water
• Kansas River Basin

Publications:

• Nebraska water-quality publications