Iowa WQIS

Props to @iowadnr fish hatchery staff at the Chuck Gipp fish hatchery for hosting a water quality sensor. We have learned A TON about the contaminant hydrology in the Upper Iowa River Watershed just over the past 48 hours with their help. iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

Incoming nitrate tile water to a saturated buffer in Adair County >40 mg/L (N) during a drought! iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

It's a new era for water monitoring in Iowa's Paleozoic Plateau (Driftless Region) where Iowa's best streams our threatened. iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

Last week our team installed a nitrate sensor in the spring supplying water to the Iowa DNR Decorah fish hatchery. Very high nitrate in that water--22 mg/L as N. Karst aquifers in NE Iowa are highly contaminated with nitrate. iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

But the nitrate dip at the sensor doesn't always correspond to peak sun in the afternoon when the algae bloom because the moving river is flowing by the sensor. What the sensor sees may be reflective of the biological activity several hours earlier upstream.

Diurnal (day/night) cycles in stream nitrate concentrations are common this time of year bc of biological activity, especially algae blooming during the day. The bubbles are algae respiring oxygen. They are using nutrients (nitrate and phosphorus) during photosynthesis

New sensor deployment in the network at Bloody Run Creek in Clayton County, in collaboration with @UICHEEC. iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

When the P Index matters. twitter.com/AurelGrains/st…

Which Iowa HUC8 Watershed do you think had the highest average corn yield (bushels per acre) from 1999-2018? Soybeans?

@isuagronomy @adamckiel @ialearningfarms @ISUBiomass @avanloocke This paper is almost 7 years old now: link.springer.com/article/10.100…

@adamckiel @ialearningfarms Our @ISUBiomass and @avanloocke are looking into that exact question!

This article is a couple years old, but really applies this year and seemingly more years than not. Should prairie potholes and other wet areas be farmed? iowalearningfarms.wordpress.com/2017/05/10/sho… via @ialearningfarms

Three sensors now track nitrate in the main Cedar River Branches: Shell Rock River, West Fork of the Cedar River, and Cedar River at Janesville. Cedar River watershed has 11 nitrate sensors in total, most of any basin.

"Drain, baby, drain." Read Chris Jones' latest and find out why everyone is talking about his blog (Photo by MJ Bennet, UI Press, installing field tiles in Boone County, circa 1914) tinyurl.com/y2ycly57

IIHR's Keith Schilling's new journal article shows that prairie restoration at Neal Smith Natl Wildlife Refuge has brought a slow decline in nitrate losses in the watershed tinyurl.com/y2tkmqa4 @USFWSMidwest @NSNWRFRIENDS @iwqis @RiverRaccoon

Real time water quality from lots of sites now available: iwqis.iowawis.org/app/

How do we live with the new reality of flooding in Iowa? desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/… via @DMRegister

Iowa has about 3 million people. The state's livestock far outnumber us. They produce as much manure as "134 million people, which would place Iowa as the 10th most populous country in the world" A staggering analysis by @IIHRUIowa's Chris Jones. iihr.uiowa.edu/cjones/iowas-r… #ia

Powerful words by Chris Jones of @IIHRUIowa: "[W]e knew our water was degraded, we knew what caused the degradation, we had ideas on how to fix it, but we didn’t fix it." "And the reason we didn’t fix it is because we lacked the courage..." iihr.uiowa.edu/cjones/ransom/ #IApolitics

Sensors are going in: iwqis.iowawis.org/app/ This week's planned deployment: 58 Willow Cr, Kellogg 59 Perry Pond, Kellogg 63 Yellow R, Ion 64 Upper Iowa R, Dorchester 8 CREP Wetland, Orchard 12 Slough Cr, Orchard 13 Beaver Cr, Bassett 14 Beaver Cr, Colwell 38 Squaw Cr, Ames

What's in your well water?

Find out why everyone is talking about Chris Jones' blog! Here's the latest installment: "The Natural" ow.ly/ey4u30oezIM