The US Geological Survey’s Pennsylvania Water Science Center released a new video on what the science says about water quality in the Susquehanna River.

The wide and majestic Susquehanna River is one of the oldest rivers in the world.  Despite its beauty, the Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay downstream has been facing the detrimental effects of excess nutrients. 

This new YouTube video provides a unique synthesis of the story of nutrient water quality in the Susquehanna watershed. 

With few exceptions, trends in stream nutrient loads at long-term monitoring sites have been improving, but a considerable percent of the short-term monitoring sites show degrading trends. 

Resource managers have varying control over the intricate blend of factors that affect nutrient delivery to the river such as physical factors (geology, climate, and hydrology), source inputs (atmospheric and land use) and legacy storage of nutrients (dams and groundwater) that remain a challenge toward meeting water quality goals.

Click Here to watch the 22-minute video.

Visit the USGS Pennsylvania Water Science Center webpage to learn more about water in Pennsylvania.

How Clean Is Your Stream?

The draft 2024 report has an interactive report viewer that allows you to zoom in to your own address to see if the streams near you are impaired and why.

Click Here to check out your streams.  Click Here for a tutorial on using the viewer.

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[Posted: October 31, 2024]

11/4/2024