Item talk:Q229938

{

 "@context": "http://schema.org/",
 "@type": "WebPage",
 "additionalType": "Program",
 "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/new-mexico-water-science-center/science/national-water-quality-assessment-program-nawqa-rio",
 "headline": "National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) Rio Grande Valley Study",
 "datePublished": "May 29, 2016",
 "author": [
   {
     "@type": "Person",
     "name": "Rebecca Travis",
     "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/staff-profiles/rebecca-travis",
     "identifier": {
       "@type": "PropertyValue",
       "propertyID": "orcid",
       "value": "0000-0001-8601-7791"
     }
   }
 ],
 "description": [
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Objectives:"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "One of the greatest challenges faced by water-resources scientists is acquiring reliable information that will guide the use and protection of the Nation's water resources. That challenge is being addressed by Federal, State, interstate, and local water-resource agencies and by many academic institutions. These organizations are collecting water-quality data for a host of purposes that include: compliance with permits and water-supply standards; development of remediation plans for a specific contamination problem; operational decisions on industrial, wastewater, or water-supply facilities; and research on factors that affect water quality. An additional need for water-quality information is to provide a basis on which regional and national-level policy decisions can be based. Wise decisions must be based on sound information. As a society we need to know whether certain types of water-quality problems are isolated or ubiquitous, whether there are significant differences in conditions among regions, whether the conditions are changing over time, and why these conditions change from place to place and over time. The information can be used to help determine the efficacy of existing water-quality policies and to help analysts determine the need for and likely consequences of new policies."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "National synthesis of data analysis, based on aggregation of comparable information obtained from the study units, is a major component of the program. This effort focuses on selected water-quality topics using nationally consistent information. Comparative studies will explain differences and similarities in observed water-quality conditions among study areas and will identify changes and trends and their causes. The first topics addressed by the national synthesis are pesticides, nutrients, volatile organic compounds, and aquatic biology. Discussions on these and other water-quality topics will be published in periodic summaries of the quality of the Nation's ground and surface water as the information becomes available."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Outside Links and Suggestions for Further Reading:"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The goals of the NAWQA Program are being achieved through investigations of many of the Nation's most important river basins and aquifer systems, which are referred to as study units. These study units are distributed throughout the Nation and cover a diversity of hydrogeologic settings. More than two-thirds of the Nation's freshwater use occurs within the study units and more than two-thirds of the people served by public water-supply systems live within their boundaries. Twenty of the study units were started in fiscal year 1991, 16 were started in fiscal year 1994, and 17 were started in fiscal year 1997. Maps are available which show the study areas and when they were started, or when they are scheduled to start."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to assess the quantity and quality of the earth resources of the Nation and to provide information that will assist resource managers and policymakers at Federal, State, and local levels in making sound decisions. Assessment of water-quality conditions and trends is an important part of this overall mission."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The Rio Grande Valley study unit includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and is one of the more geographically diverse NAWQA study units, with climate ranging from alpine tundra to Chihuahuan Desert. The headwaters of the Rio Grande originate in the mountains of southern Colorado at an altitude of over 13,000 feet. At the lower end of the study area, just above El Paso, Texas, the altitude is less than 4,000 feet. Mean annual precipitation ranges from greater than 50 inches per year in the Colorado mountains to less than 6 inches per year south of Albuquerque. Additional information is available in published reports."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "To address these needs, the Congress appropriated funds in 1986 for the USGS to begin a pilot program in seven project areas to develop and refine the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. In October 1990 (the start of federal fiscal year 1991), the USGS began full implementation of the program. The NAWQA Program builds upon an existing base of water-quality studies of the USGS, as well as those of other Federal, State, and local agencies. The objectives of the NAWQA Program are to:"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "The New Mexico Water Science Center (NMWSC) has historically conducted NAWQA data collection of groundwater and surface water-data within the former Rio Grande Valley (RIOG) study unit, which covers about 45,700 square miles in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "Approach:"
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "This information will help support the development and evaluation of management, regulatory, and monitoring decisions by other Federal, State, and local agencies to protect, use, and enhance water resources."
   },
   {
     "@type": "TextObject",
     "text": "National Water-Quality Assessment Project - NAWQA Home Page"
   }
 ],
 "funder": {
   "@type": "Organization",
   "name": "New Mexico Water Science Center",
   "url": "https://www.usgs.gov/centers/new-mexico-water-science-center"
 },
 "about": [
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Methods and Analysis"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Surface Water and Sediment Studies"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Information Systems"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Science Technology"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Groundwater Studies"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Hydrologic Monitoring and Trends"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Groundwater Data"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Surface Water Data"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Energy"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Environmental Health"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Water Quality Data"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Water"
   },
   {
     "@type": "Thing",
     "name": "Geology"
   }
 ]

}