Water Experts Joined Forces to Enhance Water Quality in Great Lakes Region

INDIANAPOLIS - Representatives from area universities, federal, state, and local government agencies, and watershed groups came together September 8-9 at IUPUI in a unique effort to enhance water quality in the Great Lakes Region.

More than 100 participants attended the Regional Water Quality meeting, hosted by the Center for Earth and Environmental Science (CEES) at IUPUI.

Water resources in the Great Lakes Region face three significant problems, said Lenore Tedesco, director of CEES and an associate professor in the School of Science 's Department of Geology at IUPUI. They are:

• Water resources are facing significant stress from both agricultural and urban/suburban areas.
• Nutrient runoff associated with both agricultural and homeowner fertilizers are increasing nutrients in regional streams and lakes. Excess nutrients cause algal blooms in lakes and reservoirs that cause water quality problems and recreational impacts.
• Bacterial contamination (e.coli) is a problem in most area steams. E. coli contamination results from combined sewer overflows, failing septic systems and animal operations.

Participants at the water quality meeting discussed ways to better integrate programs and information from agricultural and urban areas, Tedesco said. They also explored ways to create synergies between various user groups to help establish long-term monitoring sites for water resource evaluation and improvement.