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Hugh E. Bevans

Publications and source records attributed to Hugh E. Bevans.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1997

Monitoring for pesticides in ground water in Nevada

Many pesticides designed to control weed encroachment, plant disease, and insect predation are used in agricultural and urban areas in the United States. Contamination of ground water by pesticides has increased over the last 20 years (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1992). In 1985, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) estimated the detection of at least 17 agricultural pesticides in the ground water of 23 states. By 1988, pesticides identified in ground water had increased to 46 in 26 states. To protect ground water from pesticide contamination, USEPA, through the Federal Fungicide Insecticide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), requires all states to institute a ground-water protection program.

Nevada↗
USGS1997

Water-quality assessment of the Las Vegas Valley area and the Carson and Truckee River basins, Nevada and California: Nutrients, pesticides, and suspended sediment, October 1969-April 1990

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) is designed to provide long-term, consistent information on water quality that can be used to describe local, regional, and national conditions. The full-scale NAWQA Program, initiated in 1991, includes both study-unit and national synthesis activities. Study-unit investigations provide scientific data and interpretations that will be integrated by national synthesis studies to assess the quality of the Nation's water resources. The Nevada Basin and Range (NVBR) study unit is one of 60 proposed NAWQA study units in the United States. These riverbasin-scale areas were selected to represent large proportions of the Nation's water use and population served by public supplies, and the Nation's geographic diversity. The NVBR study unit includes the Las Vegas Valley area, approximately 1,640 mi in southern Nevada, and the Carson River Basin (3,970 mi 2 ) and Truckee River Basin (3,230 mi 2 ) in northwestern Nevada and northeastern California. The areas are typical of Basin and Range physiography. Snowfall in high mountains provides streamflow and ground-water recharge in adjacent basins. Unconsolidated basin-fill deposits commonly exceed 1,000 ft in thickness and are principal aquifers in the study unit. The study-unit climate varies from humid continental in the Sierra Nevada where the Carson and Truckee Rivers originate (annual precipitation exceeds 30 in.) to desert in terminal parts of the basins, including the Carson Desert and lower altitudes in Las Vegas Valley, where annual precipitation is less than 5 in. In 1990, Nevada had the greatest population growth rate and the fourth greatest percentage of population residing in urban areas in the Nation. More than 90 percent of Nevada's population (about 1,090,000 in 1990) resided in the study unit; the Las Vegas Valley area (about 710,000) was the most populous area. In 1990, water use in the study unit was about 1,117,000 acre-ft. Water use in the Las Vegas Valley area was about 317,000 acre-ft; 91 percent was for public supplies. Las Vegas Valley was 79 percent range land, but the 5 percent urban land use has significantly affected water resources. Water use in the Carson River Basin was 538,000 acre-ft in 1990. About 95 percent of the water was used for irrigation, although only 5 percent of the land was used for irrigated agriculture. Water use in the Truckee River Basin was 262,000 acre-ft in 1990. Public supply used about 36 percent of the water, although only 3 percent of the land was urban. Nutrients, pesticides, and suspended sediments are important water-quality issues in the study unit. Urban runoff and treated sewage effluent contribute these constituents to Las Vegas Wash and the Truckee River. Urban and agricultural activities in the Carson and Truckee River Basins are also sources of these constituents.

California, Nevada↗
USGS1995

The occurrence and transport of agricultural pesticides in the Tuttle Creek lake-stream system, Kansas and Nebraska

Median monthly atrazine concentrations detected in surface-water samples from the Big Blue River basin (1977-86) exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency health-advisory level (3.0 micrograms per liter) during May through September. Herbicide loads transported from the basin in 1986, expressed in tons and in percentage of amount applied, were alachlor (1.2 tons, 0.23 percent), atrazine (19 tons, 2.2 percent), and metolachlor (2.2 tons, 2.7 percent).

Kansas, Nebraska↗
USGS1989

Water supply and demand in Sedgwick County, Kansas

Water supplies in Sedgwick County, Kansas, are derived from surface--and groundwater resources. During 1985, public supply, irrigation, and self-supplied industry required 38% of the 56 ,500 acre-ft of appropriated surface water and 57% of the 187 ,800 acre-ft of appropriated groundwater. If the historic (1920-80) annual population growth rate (2.8%) continues, the 126,100 acre ft of water appropriated for public-water supplies should meet demand until 2015. The quantity of potentially available water supplies was estimated by summing those resources having less than 1.00 mg/L dissolved solids. Surface water resources that meet this criterion are the Little Arkansas and Ninnescah Rivers and Cheney Reservoir. Subtracting legislated minimum streamflows for the rivers from their mean annual streamflow volumes leaves 532,000 acre-ft, which combined with the annual sustained yield of Cheney Reservoir (40,000 acre-ft) provides an estimated 572,000 acre-ft of surface water annually. Groundwater that meets the criterion was estimated by summing the annual precipitation recharge available to unconsolidated deposits in the county (78,400 acre-ft) and in the Harvey County part of the Wichita well field (13,000 acre-ft). Although more groundwater is available, withdrawals exceeding annual precipitation recharge would cause water level declines. Because less than 4% of the potentially available surface water was used for supplies in 1985 and because about 120% of the groundwater recharge was used, surface water resources have a greater potential for meeting future water use demands. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1984

Relation of urban land-use and dry-weather, storm, and snowmelt flow characteristics to stream-water quality, Shunganunga Creek basin, Topeka, Kansas

Overland runoff from urban areas can cause concentrations of some water-quality constituents in local receiving streams to increase. The U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment investigated the water-quality characteristics of streams draining Topeka, Kansas, and adjacent parts of the Shunganunga Creek basin from October 1979 through November 1981. The purpose of this investigation was to provide the data and interpretation necessary to determine the effects of runoff from urban areas on the water-quality characteristics of receiving streams. Water-quality characteristics for three streamflow conditions were determined: (1) dry-weather streamflow--a combination of base flow and point-source contributions, (2) storm streamflow--mainly provided by overland runoff from storms, and (3) snowmelt streamflow- mainly provided by overland runoff from snowmelt. Median concentrations of trace metals and nutrients were larger in storm streamflow than in dry-weather streamflow. Median concentrations of total lead and zinc were largest in storm streamflow from the more urban basins. Regression equations were developed to estimate median concentrations of total lead and zinc in storm streamflow from the percentage of drainage area in residential plus commercial land-use areas (correlation coefficients were 0.98 for total lead and 0.88 for total zinc); and from street density in lane miles per square mile (correlation coefficients were 0.89 for total lead and 0.84 for total zinc). Median concentrations of dissolved nitrite plus nitrate nitrogen and total phosphorus averaged, respectively, 76-percent and 70-percent larger during storm streamflow than during dry-weather streamflow and were largest in storm streamflow from the more agricultural basins. Median concentrations of dissolved sodium, chloride, and solids in snowmelt streamflow at all study sites averaged 218-percent larger for dissolved sodium, 296-percent larger for dissolved chloride, and 71-percent larger for dissolved solids relative to median concentrations in dry-weather streamflow. Regression equations also were developed to estimate median concentrations of dissolved sodium, chloride, and solids in snowmelt streamflow from the summation of percentages of the drainage area in residential, commercial, and industrial land-use areas (correlation coefficients were 0.97 for each of the three relationships) and from street density in lane miles per square mile (correlation coefficients were 0.93 for dissolved sodium and 0.94 for both dissolved chloride and dissolved solids). Multiple-correlation and regression analysis relating storm-runoff volumes and average constituent concentrations to land-use and storm characteristics produced significant relations (0.05 level of significance) for storm-runoff volume (0.81 coefficient of determination), total lead (0.71 coefficient of determination), total zinc (0.50 coefficient of determination), and suspended sediment (0.58 coefficient of determination).

Kansas↗
USGS1980

A procedure for predicting concentrations of dissolved solids and sulfate ion in streams draining areas strip mined for coal

Current trends in increased coal production neccessitate the development of techniques to appraise the environmental degradation that results from strip mining. A procedure is introduced for the prediction of dissolved-solids and sulfate-ion concentrations in streams draining strip-mined areas as functions of the percentage of the drainage area that has been strip mined. These relationships are expressed by regression equations computed from data collected in streams draining strip-mined areas of Cherokee and Crawford Counties in southeast Kansas.

Kansas↗