Water Quality Protection
All water - both surface and groundwater - is susceptible to contamination from rural, urban or industrial land uses. Improper agricultural practices can result in biological, chemical or physical contamination of a water supply. Contamination may result from disease-causing micro-organisms or pathogens found in animal manure, pesticides used in crop production, hazardous products such as fuel or oil, pharmaceuticals used in animal production, sediment from soil erosion, etc. Improperly applied fertilizers, unmanaged runoff of animal waste and direct livestock watering are a few possible water contamination sources.
Agricultural Best Management Practices
This publication provides information on the potentially negative impacts that agriculture can have on soil and water quality, and some of the farming practices that can minimize these impacts.
Alternatives to Direct Access Livestock Watering
This publication provides information on the impacts of direct watering of livestock on water quality and some of the management alternatives that exist for improving water quality by restricting animal access to water bodies.
Livestock Water Quality - A Field Guide for Cattle, Horses, Poultry and Swine
This publication provides information on water quality issues and contamintants. It is intended to provide fundamental information to livestock and water quality specialists for a wide range of parameters as well as provide information to producers to help them identify problems related to water quality.
Muskrat Control in Farm Dugouts
Muskrats can have a negative impact on water quality in farm dugouts. Muskrats will often tunnel into the sides of dugouts to create burrows. Both tunnelling and harvesting of plants for food disturb the sediments.
Nutrient Management Planning
This publication provides information on the impact of plant nutrients on water quality and how the careful management of nutrient inputs can mean economic efficiency for producers and improved water quality for others.
Pest Management and Water Quality
This publication provides information on the impact of pesticides on water quality and how the adoption of an Integrated Pest Management Plan can help improve your bottom line and reduce environmental risks.
Protecting Your Water
This publication describes the roles that watershed and water source protection and management play in providing good quality water for farm users, focusing on principles important to small on-farm reservoirs known as dugouts.
Riparian Area Management
This publication provides information about the role of riparian areas in maintaining good water quality and how the careful management of riparian areas can provide sustainable forage for producers and improved water quality for all.
Riparian Buffer Design Manual for the Canadian Prairies
This Buffer Design field manual is intended for use by agricultural practitioners in locating and designing riparian vegetated buffers adjacent to cropland in Prairie landscapes.
Riparian Grazing and Off-Stream Livestock Watering
This publication explains how agricultural practices in livestock production can be adopted to maintain environmentally healthy riparian zones.
Robocow - Operation H2O
Robocow: Operation H2O is an animated video in which on-farm environmental perils are discovered and remedied by Robocow, the charismatic and enigmatic hero of the series. In Operation H2O Robocow identifies and corrects agricultural practices affecting surface water.
Robocow - The Aquifer Connection
Robocow, the animated environmental advocate is back for a second stint on the silver screen, ready to put more of her bovine bravado on display. But this time her celebrated and sensitive ground-scan radar is tuned into an even deeper dilemma - groundwater problems.
Soil Texture and Water Quality
This publication provides information about the connections between soil texture and soil management practices that protect water quality.
Using Field Chemistry Kits for Monitoring Nutrients in Surface Water
Field chemistry kits can be used to measure concentrations of nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen in surface waters. This fact sheet provides general information on the types of kits that are available.
Watershed Management Resources DVD-ROM
Contains information on water and watershed management, instructions on how to take water samples from surface water, and a look at the water cycle.
Watershed Monitoring: An Introduction to Water Sampling
In designing a sampling program, first determine why you are sampling. Make the most of your resources by understanding the water system you are sampling and by choosing which chemical parameters to analyze for. Make your samples mean the most.
Winter Watering for Livestock
This publication provides information about the impacts of direct access livestock watering on water quality. It also recommends some of the best management practices to improve water quality and winter watering.