Temporal and Spatial Variation of Water Quality in an Agricultural/Livestock Setting

Pastures with grazing livestock and further agricultural production can have unwanted impacts on water bodies. Livestock can cause erosion to embankments and sediment transport into surface water and cause contamination of nutrients to the water through fecal matter and urine. Fertility practices for maintaining high-quality pastures could potentially runoff into water sources causing an increase in nutrients, disrupting the dissolved oxygen concentration levels of the water. Catalpa Creek in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, is not exempt from these potential harmful impacts caused by agriculture practices in bordering pastures. Water quality standards defined by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality relate that dissolved oxygen concentrations (DO) shall be maintained at a daily average of not less than 5.0 mg/L; and the normal pH of water shall be between 6.0 and 9.0. In order to identify temporal and spatial variability of water quality in a tributary of the Catalpa Creek receiving runoff from a livestock production field, biweekly stream water samples and water quality measurements are collected. The measurements include DO, temperature, pH, turbidity, salinity, total dissolved solids, specific conductivity, velocity of flow, width of water column, and depth of water column. Samples collected from the creek were taken to the lab where they were analyzed for total suspended solids, total nitrogen, and total phosphorous concentrations. These samples were collected and analyzed from August 2021 to August 2022. Results from the study suggest that additional level of protection is needed to guarantee the accomplishment of the designated use of the water body, which is fish and wildlife, and the standard for water quality related by the environmental authority in Mississippi.