Limnology: Understanding Surface Water

Limnology is the study of inland waters such as ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.  This study includes the biological, chemical, and physical properties along with the aquatic ecology and geology.  Because scientific research in limnology requires that a variety of different facets are examined a team of researches, with different backgrounds, are required.

Perhaps the national authority of water quality monitoring, the US Geological Survey, maintains about 1,500 sites which measure real-time water quality data.  Traditionally, the discharge (i.e. the amount of water moving through the stream) is measured and reported in real-time on the web.  Algorithms are used to correlate discrete samples collected over an extended period to the discharge measurements and the concentration of specific constituents can be approximated as the real-time discharge is recorded.

Over extended periods of time this research can be used to determine the effect of specific events, such as the introduction of a point- and non-point source releases into streams.  This data is vital to many environmental policies simply because we all would be willing to guess that putting pollutants into a stream is a bad thing, but (for the most part) legislation is not promulgated based on someones best guess.  Data is needed to remove the ambiguity.

Further, the use of these monitoring stations allows for the collection of data to see how a given stream will respond when pollutants are introduced into it. As you can see (in my amazing hand drawing to the right) over a distance on any given stream the pollutants will mix into the water column and be degraded by a number of processes until the water quality is back to it original level.  It is very interesting science and this data is available to anyone at a number of locations throughout the country.  Check and see if one is near your house or place of work.

As drinking water standards become more strict and water becomes scarce the science of limnology will help lawmakers and everyday people better understand what effects our actions will have of surface water.