Kansas Researchers Say Climate Change Will Deteriorate Midwest Water Quality

Following periods of drought, heavy rains and flooding can flush nitrate out of dry soil and into drinking water. In 2016, the Cedar River flooded areas of northeast Iowa, shown here.

Midwesterners are used to extreme weather. We take pride in enduring everything from torrential downpours to the most desiccating drought. Climate change is expected to increase the frequency of these fluctuations between drought and flood, though, according to new research published by scientists at the University of Kansas, and this "weather whiplash" will deteriorate the quality of drinking water.

Terry Loecke and Amy Burgin, co-authors of the study, examined a particular pollutant, nitrate. It is a nutrient for crops and is a common ingredient in fertilizer. "Drought tends to stop nutrients from entering our water systems," says Loecke, who teaches environmental science. The nutrients accumulate in the soil when it is dry and, when heavy rain comes along, the nitrate that is not absorbed by plants as food is flushed into the water system. "We’ve got a problem," says Loecke, and "it’s going to get worse with how precipitation is projected to change in the next century." Burgin and Loecke, both originally from Iowa, have been […]

“Iowa has I think close to 60 of these real-time nitrate sensors, which puts it way ahead of most other states, so the data is available there,” Burgin says. “Kansas had five [of the sensors], and Missouri has two that we could find.”

Full article: Kansas Researchers Say Climate Change Will Deteriorate Midwest Water Quality