Scientists Check Midwestern Waters For Effects Of Ag Runoff

1 / 4
Papoulias and Nicks close the minnow cages with the help of environmental toxicologist Don Tillitt. The biologists will check in on these minnows every other day until the end of July.
Papoulias and Nicks close the minnow cages with the help of environmental toxicologist Don Tillitt. The biologists will check in on these minnows every other day until the end of July.
2 / 4
One of the U.S. Geological Survey teams collecting water samples and checking cages for fish eggs in Missouri this summer: biologist Diana Papoulias, chemist Dave Alvarez, hydrologist Peter Van Metre, biologist Diane Nicks and environmental toxicologist Don Tillitt.
One of the U.S. Geological Survey teams collecting water samples and checking cages for fish eggs in Missouri this summer: biologist Diana Papoulias, chemist Dave Alvarez, hydrologist Peter Van Metre, biologist Diane Nicks and environmental toxicologist Don Tillitt.
3 / 4
At Goodwater Creek near Centralia, Mo., U.S. Geological Survey biologists Diana Papoulias and Diane Nicks pull up six cages of fishhead minnows. They’re checking for eggs.
At Goodwater Creek near Centralia, Mo., U.S. Geological Survey biologists Diana Papoulias and Diane Nicks pull up six cages of fishhead minnows. They’re checking for eggs.
4 / 4
Scientists test the water in a Missouri stream for ag runoff.
Scientists test the water in a Missouri stream for ag runoff.

Reposted with permission fromHarvest Public Media

Eleven miles northeast of Centralia, Mo., five U.S. Geological Survey scientists don waders and bright reflective life jackets to wade into Goodwater Creek. Plenty of fish live in the stream’s murky slow-moving waters, along with snakes, crayfish, mussels and snapping turtles. On this overcast morning, the team collects water samples and checks submerged cages of fathead minnows for eggs.

“The fish will be spawning every few days and the eggs will be hatching in say, four or five days,” said Diana Papoulias, a biologist who works out of the U.S. Geological Survey Columbia (Mo.) Environmental Research Center. “So we need to catch them and collect the eggs, of course, the embryos, before they hatch.”

Goodwater Creek is one of a number of Missouri streams that this crew will visit this summer. After collecting samples, the scientists will test the water for hundreds of pesticides and nutrients used in farming. Similar teams of chemists, hydrologists, toxicologists and biologists are wading into other streams all across the Midwest – from Ohio to Nebraska – 100 streams in total. This is the first time scientists have tested for so many chemicals in a whole region’s waters or considered the impact of ag runoff on fish, frogs, bugs and algae at this scale.

The U.S. Geological Survey hopes to eventually use the findings from this study to make models that will calculate the concentrations of contaminants, nutrients and sediment in other Midwestern streams and predict how they will change the reproduction and development of fish, frogs, bugs and algae.

Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368