ARS | Publication request: Delineating Contaminants and Transport Pathways Within a Coastal Watershed in Southeast Puerto Rico

Submitted to: American Chemical Society SE/SW Regional Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: September 10, 2009
Publication Date: October 23, 2009
Citation: Potter, T.L., Bosch, D.D., Strickland, T.C., Lowrance, R.R., Hubbard, R.K., Walbridge, M.R., Effland, W., Mas, E., Dieppa, A., Whitall, D., Vega, J., Sotomayor, D. 2009. Delineating Contaminants and Transport Pathways Within a Coastal Watershed in Southeast Puerto Rico [abstract]. American Chemical Society SE/SW Regional Meeting 10/21-29/2009, San Juan, Puerto Rico .

Technical Abstract: Coastal water quality decline due to point and non-point source pollution from terrestrial sources is a serious concern throughout the Caribbean basin and worldwide. Toxic and noxious algal blooms, declines in mangrove forests and seagrass meadows, depletion of fishery stocks, coral reef die-off, public health threats and loss of recreational resources and livelihoods of coastal communities may result. To design cost effective solutions comprehensive watershed scale investigations are needed that delineate contaminant types, sources, and transport pathways. This is a primary goal of our on-going research on the southeast coast of Puerto Rico where impacts of agricultural land-use practices on surface water quality within the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (JBNERR) are being examined. Project partners are the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), NOAA-Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, and the Government of Puerto Rico. The effort includes studying whether use of conservation cover crops on a 100-ha irrigated sorghum-corn field immediately adjacent to JBNERR can improve soil and water quality. In conjunction with this effort, we are monitoring shallow groundwater within and off the field, examining the extent to which nutrients and pesticides are deposited in rainfall, and collecting and analyzing samples at selected stations and making baseline biological and sediment quality assessments of the Bay. Findings over the first year of the project will be discussed in this presentation.