The Oregon Water Quality Decision Aid (OWQDA) is
a first-tier screening tool that allows you to make a broad
determination of the likelihood that a specific chemical,
when applied to a specific Oregon soil, will move through
the soil and contaminate groundwater. This determination
is called the groundwater vulnerability rating.
Soils of 49 agricultural and 2 "native condition" sites in the Lower Umatilla Basin,
Oregon were sampled for nitrate-nitrogen, ammonium-nitrogen, chloride, and pH
beginning in Fall of 1992. Several sites were sampled in Spring and Fall 1993 in order to
indicate movement or loss of residual soil nitrogen over time....
Soil effects from mountain beaver (Aplodontia rufa ) burrowing were
investigated in Oregon Coast Range soils formed from Tyee sandstone. The potential
for observed changes in soil to affect productivity was assessed. Soil horizons from
mountain beaver mound soil and adjacent unmounded profiles were collected with a
monolith-type quantitative sampler....
Four factors govern the potential for groundwater
contamination by pesticides passing through the soil:
• Properties of the soil
• Properties of the pesticide
• Hydraulic loading on the soil
• Crop management practices
Groundwater contamination on irrigated land is of concern in this nation
and around the world. In order to reduce the potential of groundwater
contamination by agricultural practices such as irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide
application, vadose-zone monitoring and sampling are needed. The main
objective of this study was to evaluate impacts...
Dry land agriculture using summer fallow is a common crop production
practice in the Columbia Plateau region of eastern Oregon. Farmed-over level
terraces are used to control surface water runoff and soil erosion. More than
70 percent of the average annual precipitation around Pendleton, Oregon (350 -
400 mm) falls...
Succinic acid, a low molecular weight dicarboxylic acid was used to leach out
heavy metals from Willamette Valley soil (contaminated separately with lead, copper,
and zinc) in form of water-soluble organo-metal complexes. The research tasks included
developing synthetic contaminated soils representative of those found at Superfund sites
and making heavy...
The procedure described in this publication helps
you assess the potential for any specific pesticide
to travel through any specific soil to reach
groundwater.
Published January 1994. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog
Soil column studies were performed on a chromium contaminated soil from the United
Chrome Products Superfund Site currently undergoing a pump-and-treat cleanup process. The
goal of the research was to provide insight into the feasibility of chemically changing the injection
fluid of the pump-and-treat system to enhance hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI))...
Recreational impacts on the subalpine-alpine ecosystems of Mount Rainier National
Park have developed over the past century, and today pose a major problem for park
managers. Field data were collected during the summer of 1987 in the Paradise meadows
area in order to describe visitor impacts on social trails (trails...