Professor Stephen Swallen, of UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County, will be joined by Serge Koenig, of the Sauk County Department of Conservation, Planning, and Zoning to discuss their ongoing study of surface water quality in Sauk County at the campus library on Friday, Oct. 18 at 12:30 p.m. The lecture is free and open to the public.
“We want to think about how industry, agriculture and urban environments impact water quality. The Baraboo River is the second-largest source of agricultural contaminants to the Wisconsin River,” said Swallen, who has been studying levels of contaminating particles as part of an ongoing research project that includes students. “There are techniques and solutions to prevent runoff into area streams and rivers.”
Those ideas are part of what Swallen and Koenig will discuss at their talk.
“Our ongoing goal is to try to monitor these levels and recommend solutions to reduce them, since it’s causing water quality impacts both locally, and extending all throughout the Mississippi River basin – even down to the Gulf of Mexico,” said Swallen. He said an annual “Dead Zone” measured by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in the Gulf, and brought about by concentrations of phosphorous, nitrogen, and other agricultural and industrial contaminants causing disruptions in the ecology of the sea waters connected to the Mississippi, is of growing concern to scientists.
The lecture and discussion will take place in the T.N. Savides Library at the UW-Platteville Baraboo Sauk County campus. For disability accommodations, please contact Jason Schulte at schultejas@uwplatt.edu or 608-355.5252.