1. Joining Forces to Assess Water Quality in Rural North Dakota February 10, 2009 Roxanne Johnson Water Quality Associate Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering NDSU Fargo, North Dakota

2. North Dakota President Theodore Roosevelt The Roughrider State

3. 90,995 49,321 36,567 16,718 55,532 16,010 14,940 15,527 State Population 642,200

5. Rural Water Systems

6. Needs Assessment Spring Conference 2008

7. Needs Assessment Results Confidence in responding to WQ questions Importance of Water Quality Rank of Importance Human Water Quality Livestock Water Quality Human Water Quantity Livestock Water Quantity

8. Needs Assessment Results 1. BMP’s on rangeland 2. Small acreage ownership 3. Urban/agriculture interface Public Concern as Stated to County Agents

9. Needs Assessment Results 1. Salinity issues (soil & water) 2. Livestock drinking water quality 3. Nutrient impacts to surface and ground water County Agents Response to BMP’s & Production Agriculture

10. Needs Assessment Results 1. Industrial water use (biofuels, oil) 2. Water Conservation 3. Water permitting process Water Conservation and Protection Water Policies

11. Needs Assessment Results Permitting process – somewhat concerned Water discharge – somewhat to not concerned Agricultural Water Conservation and Protection Tile Drainage

12. Needs Assessment Results 1.Testing water 2.Quality of water 3.Understanding the test result Livestock Drinking Water

13. Needs Assessment Results 1.Quality of water 2.Contamination of water source 3.Understanding test results Human Drinking Water

14. Our Response Proposal to Research Center Directors News releases developed for state and local papers Test Water Samples at Field Days Across the State

15. Our Response Agreement with private laboratory for reduced bacteria test pricing Sent packets to each county including sterile bottles and sampling information Test Water Samples at Field Days Across the State

16. Field Days 2008

17. Comments: Very hard water Smelly, bad color, bad odor Bacteria Replace faucets often, yellows laundry White spots on grass Brown Causes throat pain

18. Field Days 2008 Sample source: Barn House – pre & post treatment Slough Dam Well Rural water system

19. Field Days 2008 Nitrates (NO 3 -N) Hach colorometric Human drinking water - 10mg/L Livestock - <90mg/L Our findings: 0->50mg/L 2 samples in SW ND 10mg/L 1 sample in central ND at >50mg/L

20. Field Days 2008 TDS Hand held EC meter Our findings: <100 – 16,000mg/L Recommended levels: Human drinking water - < 500 mg/L Livestock water - < 5,000mg/L 2 blind cows

21. Field Days 2008 pH Handheld meter Our findings 7.0 – 10.3 Most in the 8-9 range

22. Field Days 2008 Hardness Hach titration method Largest water quality complaint Our findings – majority >25 grains

23. Conclusions More education needed for private well users. More education needed for county staff in sampling and understanding results and treatment. Speed up process by purchasing new equipment for next year. Keep samples for future educational opportunities. Work more closely with counties on advertising. Share data with MPU’s.

24. Impacts Face to face +150 people livestock private well owners rural water irrigation Children watching with great interest!!!

25. Impacts Interviews with TV, radio, news papers. Raised awareness of county agents, experiment stations and staff…some even brought in samples from the experiment stations!

26. Questions?