Water Wonderful World:
From: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/impacts/04index/waterworld.html 
We may argue over whether all life crawled out of water in the
beginning, but the fact that living creatures need ample supplies
of water to thrive isn’t debatable. And from people in
cities to plants in farm fields, the greater the population density,
the more precious the water supply. USDA and Land-Grant University
System researchers and extension specialists work to safeguard
and enhance the quantity and quality of the nation’s water
resources.
Creatures small. The Rio
Grande silvery minnow is a tiny, endangered fish that lives only
in a short stretch of the river that has
gone dry at times during recent droughts. Federal courts have
approved diverting valuable drinking water to save the minnow
when its habitat is threatened. New
Mexico State researchers are studying the silvery minnow and
the hundreds of miles of farm irrigation drains and ditches.
They’ve found silvery
minnows in these artificial streams and believe they may provide
a viable alternative home for the tiny fish in the future.
Waste matters. The waste
from animal feeding operations can dump nutrients into nearby
streams, causing water-quality problems
downstream. To help stabilize Little Bear River, Utah
State Extension helped
36 farms build manure-handling facilities that have contained
a total of 77,000 tons of manure each year. This effort reduced
nitrogen runoff by more than 450 tons and phosphorus by nearly
75 tons, stabilizing more than two miles of stream channel and
improving 409 acres of wildlife wetland habitat. North
Carolina A&T researchers found
that sandwiching shallow ponds between strips of marsh plants
can reduce nitrogen runoff from livestock
facilities by as much as 95 percent. North
Carolina State , South
Dakota State 
, American
Samoa ,
and other universities had similar programs.
Well wells. Florida gets
a lot of rain, which can leach fertilizers and chemicals from
crops, lawns, and gardens into rural wells
used for drinking water. Florida
A&M Extension
uses a mobile drinking-water lab to test shallow wells on the
spot and train
residents about the need to monitor their water supplies. A testing
program in Georgia analyzed
2,700 wells for bacteria and 200 more for a spectrum of chemicals
and added workshops and other
efforts to educate more than 4,000 people on water testing. Nebraska and
Nevada scientists
tested small public water systems and private wells for arsenic,
another common problem in groundwater supplies,
and Nebraska scientists are researching lower-cost ways to remove
arsenic. Missouri researchers
tested more than 1,100 water samples for chemical pollution and
found only 7 percent had detectable
levels and none had health-threatening levels. Colorado
State Extension has
sampled more than 1,000 wells and detected unsafe pesticide levels
in only four after years of developing
and promoting
best management practices for chemical use.
Water use. Utah
is near the top of two conflicting lists: it’s
the second driest state in the nation, and its percapita water
use is nearly the nation’s highest. Utah
State Extension responded
with water audits and training on irrigation scheduling, enabling
70 large water users to reduce their water use up to
28 percent each year. These water users saved more than 66 million
gallons of water, enough to fill the university’s football
stadium and create a column of water 203 feet high. Georgia
Extension worked
to install end-gun shut-offs on center-pivot irrigation rigs
and saved 6.9 million gallons of water in one county alone.
More important, Georgia researchers and extension specialists
are monitoring 4 percent of the state’s 4,360 wells used
to irrigate crops. The data from the irrigation monitoring will
help the state better manage its water resources. The University
of Arkansas-Pine Bluff participates
with several agencies in a similar monitoring program.
Water, water, everywhere. Supplies
of undrinkable water evoke scary thoughts in coastal areas where
overuse of groundwater
is causing salty ocean water to seep into urban water supplies.
A Georgia researcher
developed a computer program that can be used to solve seawater
intrusion problems in coastal aquifers
in places like the Georgia coast, Cape Cod, Puerto Rico, and
the Netherlands.
Citizens attest. There
aren’t
enough scientists to monitor and protect our water resources
everywhere. Local communities
need to join the effort. Alabama Extension designed the Alabama
Water Watch program
to train citizen volunteers to monitor surface water quality
in their area. Extension put together a
portable
water-quality test kit so anyone with the training can collect
valid water-quality data. With more than 75 active community
groups statewide now, this program is a model for many other
states and countries. University
of Rhode Island Watershed Watch ,
for instance, has trained 250 volunteers who
provide
more than
90
percent of
the
waterquality data for the state’s lakes, ponds, rivers,
and coastal watersheds. See the National
Facilitation of CSREES Volunteer Water Quality Monitoring Efforts for
more information.
Crystal clear. Few
places show water quality degradation as clearly as Lake Tahoe,
which has been losing its world-renowned
clarity at an alarming rate since urban development began in
the 1960s. Visibility in the lake was 102 feet when California
scientists began measuring the lake’s water clarity in
1968 but dropped to only 64 feet in 1997. Nevada
Extension and California Extension joined
with 30 agencies in a massive educational campaign to address
the problem. The coalition produces weekly
television, radio, and newspaper reports. It has staged more
than 50 educational events, such as a program on citizen water
quality monitoring and a workshop for contractors on erosion
control and best management practices. The efforts seem to be
paying off. In 2002, Lake Tahoe’s water clarity averaged
78 feet for the year, the best since 1992.
Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service in cooperation with the Extension Committee on Organization and Policy, the Experiment Station Committee on Organization and Policy, the Academic Programs Committee on Organization and Policy, the International Programs Committee on Organization and Policy, and the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, or marital or family status. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)
From: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/newsroom/impacts/04index/waterworld.html 