Science

In the area of science, we have concentrated the majority of our efforts on studying variability in the contexts of ambient and drinking water. Our interest in variability comes not from a desire to understand variability in and of itself, but rather from the link between water quality measurements and resource allocation (in terms of monitoring resources as well as policy and infrastructure decisions).

Projects we have completed or are in the process of completing:

• Using historical data to screen Safe Drinking Water Act contaminants
• Using pesticide data to screen pesticides monitored in ambient water
• Describing spatial and temporal nutrient occurrence patterns
• Describing spatial and temporal pesticide occurrence patterns
• Development of a water quality index for agroecosystems

In these studies, we utilized water quality data stored in several different large databases, including:

• USGS WATSTORE
• EPA STORET
• Iowa STORET
• Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) database (for Iowa) housed at the Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination (CHEEC)

In addition to historical data analysis, we have also conducted two field studies to investigate:

1) Impact of sewage treatment effluent on water quality in receiving water bodies

2) Quality of drinking water alternatives (i.e. tap water, bottled water, private farm wells, filtered water, etc.) in Eastern Iowa.