Water Quality

August is National Water Quality Month. National Water Quality Month aims to remind us how vital clean water is to humans, wildlife, and vegetation. Determinantal agents to water quality include heavy metal pollution, inorganic and organic chemical runoff, and sediment introduction due to erosion, among many others. 

One significant threat to the greater Gulf Coast is agricultural runoff into the streams, creeks, and rivers that drain into the Gulf of Mexico. Nitrogen and other chemicals cause algae blooms which can result in oxygen deficiencies. These oxygen-deficient waters, dead zones, lead to difficult conditions for marine life.

What is a great tool to reduce agricultural runoff? Healthy prairies. Prairies with native forbs and grasses allow groundwater infiltration and reduction of surface runoff. The native vegetation’s root systems absorb and filter the pollutants before the surface water enters the riverine systems.  Prairies, along with other tools such as quality riparian areas, show that nature is valuable for water quality even in the face of anthropogenic conditions.