Probing Climate's Impact on Groundwater Quality

University Communications Author

01/08/2015 Added

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Climate change and increasing food production demands both influence groundwater quality. To better understand the links between climate, agriculture and groundwater, University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers will investigate climate's impact on groundwater contamination from chemicals used in crop and animal production.

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[00:00:00.595][music]
[00:00:01.243]Climate change affects agriculture and land use and that
[00:00:05.091]in turn affects groundwater.
[00:00:07.579]Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
[00:00:10.603]want to know more.
[00:00:12.555]It really is one of the first studies to look at how climate might affect
[00:00:15.275]groundwater quality.
[00:00:16.867]Climate change is expected to reduce water availability
[00:00:20.331]in the Southern Plains, shifting agriculture to places like Nebraska
[00:00:24.627]with its stable groundwater supply.
[00:00:27.795]And we think that shift in that economic activity is going to
[00:00:30.883]result in land use changes.
[00:00:32.283]So we might see intensification of agriculture and we want to
[00:00:35.067]look at how that shift in land use might affect groundwater.
[00:00:40.515]Researchers are examining the potential impact of three chemicals used in ag production
[00:00:46.283]with potential to contaminate groundwater.
[00:00:48.795]Historical data and soil samples will help build a model for the future.
[00:00:54.243]Hopefully we can show trends, increases, decreases, or no effects
[00:00:59.667]of loadings of these compounds to groundwater as a result of this.
[00:01:05.227]An economic model predicts how the agricultural system will respond to climate change.
[00:01:11.067]If climate change were to lead to an increase in crop production,
[00:01:16.731]say of corn production in our state, that may lead indirectly to an increase in
[00:01:22.963]the livestock raised in our state and to our level of ethanol production.
[00:01:30.107]Researchers from engineering, economics, water science and community and regional planning
[00:01:35.827]bring their expertise to the project.
[00:01:38.483]It's funded by a joint National Science Foundation, US Department of Agriculture program
[00:01:43.723]that supports interdisciplinary research on water and climate.
[00:01:48.195]Interdisciplinary work raises questions that foster creativity in looking at things in new ways.
[00:01:54.299]Researchers believe the models they develop can be used across the country
[00:01:58.667]to help decision makers meet the challenge of climate change.
[00:02:02.459][music]

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Probing Climate's Impact on Groundwater Quality

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