Assessment and implementation of a methodological framework for sustainable management: Lake Kinneret as a case study

Conceptually, water resources management means optimization of a goal function which integrates requirements and, and constraints, of, interconnected hydrological, ecological and economic aspects of the water resource management. Establishment of the goal function should allow combining of the economic activities, hydroecological studies and economic valuation within a holistic methodological framework. The set of the management measures allowing the optimization of the goal function under a pre-condition of conservation of the ecosystem services in some predefined reference/desirable state defines sustainable management policy.The examples of the natural waterbodies for which such a goal function has been established are extremely rare if at all they exist (unknown to us). In this presentation, we outlined a methodological framework for sustainable water resource management comprising of ecological monitoring, quantified water quality and an ecosystem model. We tested the proposed framework on the subtropical Lake Kinneret (Israel), a major national water resource. Methodologically, this study linked the economic activities in Lake Kinneret and its watershed (i.e. nutrient loads and water supply regimes) with lake water quality, sustaining of which was considered the management objective. Based on analysis of the monitoring data and model scenario simulations we established quantitative relationships between changes to lake water level and nutrient loading and water quality. We assessed a set of values of nutrient loads from the watershed and water levels that will allow conservation of the lake water quality within predefined limits thereby defining limits for a sustainable management policy for the lake water resources. The defined sustainable management policy is in good correspondence with the loads and permissible water level ranges estimated from lake-based monitoring . Our approach to assessment of the sustainable management policy was based on a single, hydroecological criterion: the necessity to sustain lake water quality within a desirable, reference state. However, in reality, the sustainable management policy should be focused on a social-ecological system and not an aquatic ecosystem per se. Therefore, water resources management should be based on multi-criteria; it should also account for the economic aspects (costs and benefits for society) of the problem. Establishment of the quantitative relationships between economic activities, water quality and total economic value of water resources is a challenging scientific problem. Its solution will be a pivotal step towards adaptive water resources management.

Integrated water resource management has been discussed since at least the Civil War; yet, there is still no integrated framework for sustainably managing water. Recognizing this need, the Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF) funded a research project to develop an integrated, conceptual framework for sustainable water resources management. Through WERF funding, this framework was developed over the past four years. Development of the framework was guided by the U.N. Agenda 21, Global Water Partnership, the Enlibra Principles, and Panarchy Theory. The conceptual framework for Sustainable Water Resources Management considers water as a renewable, but finite resource with global and regional constraints. It integrates ecological, economic, and social considerations through institutional and legal/regulatory constructs to move toward sustainable water resources. Implementation of the framework is guided by a process flow?chart that considers both crisis management and proactive management activities. We believe that sustainability is as much an outcome as a goal. If water resources are viewed within a total systems context and monitored, assessed and adaptively managed through time, sustainable water resources are the outcome. This title belongs to WERF Research Report Series ISBN: 9781843397564 (Print) ISBN: 9781780403984 (eBook)

Defining limits to multiple and simultaneous anthropogenic stressors in a lake ecosystem – Lake Kinneret as a case study

Lakes are an important component of the global water cycle and aquatic ecosystem. Lake water quality improvement have always been a hot topic of concern both domestically and internationally. Noncompliant outflow water quality frequently occurs, especially for lakes that rely mainly on irrigation return flow as their water source. External water replenishment to improve the water quality of lakes is gradually being recognized as a promising method, which however, is also a controversial method. Lake managers, in the case of constant controversy, hesitate about the appropriateness of lake water replenishing. Thus, taking Lake Ulansuhai in China as an example, this study aimed to construct a lake hydrodynamic and water quality model, under the constraint of multiple boundary conditions, that has sufficient simulation accuracy, and to simulate and analyze the changes in COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and TN (Total Nitrogen) concentrations in the lake area before and after water replenishment, and explore whether water replenishment was an effective method for improving lake water quality. The results showed that when the roughness value of Lake Ulansuhai was 0.02, the TN degradation coefficient K was 0.005/d, and the COD degradation coefficient K was 0.01/d; the simulation and measured values had the best fit, and the built model is reasonable and reliable can be used to simulate lake water quality changes. By external water replenishment lasting 140 days in the water volume of 4.925 × 108 m³, the COD and TN concentrations in Lake Ulansuhai could be stabilized at the Class V water quality requirement, which helped improve the self-purification ability of the lake area. Water replenishment was proved to be an effective method for improving the water quality of the lake, but water replenishment is only an emergency measure. Lake water replenishment is more applicable to areas with abundant water resources. External source control and internal source reduction of lake pollution and protection of lake water ecology are the main ways to improve lake water quality for water-deficient areas under the rigid constraints of water resources. In the future, key technologies for reducing and controlling pollution in irrigation areas, construction of lake digital twin platforms, and active promotion of lake legislation work should be the main research direction for managing the lake water environment.

In Taiwan, the authorities have spent years working on remedying polluted rivers. Generally, the remediation planning works are divided into two phases. During the first phase, the allowed pollution discharge quantity and abatement quantity of each drainage zone, including the assimilative capacity, are generated based on the total river basin. In the second phase, the abatement action plans for each pollution source in each drainage zone are respectively devised by the related organizations based on the strategies generated during the first phase. However, the effectiveness of linking the two phases is usually poor. Highly integrated performances are not always achieved because the separate two-phase method does not take system and management thinking into consideration in the planning stage. This study pioneers the use of the Managing for Results (MFR) method in planning strategies and action plans for river water quality management. A sustainable management framework is proposed based on the concept and method of MFR, Management Thinking, and System Analysis. The framework, consisting of planning, implementation, and controlling stages, systematically considers the relationships and interactions among four factors: environment, society, economy, and institution, based on the principles of sustainable development. Based on the framework, the Modified Bounded Implicit Enumeration algorithm, which is used as a solving method, is combined with Visual Basic software and MS Excel to develop a computer system for strategy planning. The Shetzu River, located in northern Taiwan, is applied as a case study. According to the theoretical, practical, and regulatory considerations, the result-oriented objectives are defined to first improve the pollution length of the Shetzu River in specific remediation periods to finally meet regulated water quality standards. The objectives are then addressed as some of the constraints for the strategy planning model. The model objective is to pursue the maximum assimilative capacity (environmental phase) subjected to the constraints of water quality standards (institutional phase), social equity (social phase), and proper available technology (economic phase). The pollution quantity abatement and allocation, which are named the top strategies, of each drainage zone for different scenarios can be obtained based on each water quality standard. The middle as well as lower strategies and action plans, which consist of pollution quantity abatement and allocation of each class (domestic, industrial, livestock, and non-point pollution sources) and their individual pollution sources in each drainage zone, are then generated based on the top strategies. The performance indicators and measure plans are proposed based on the action plans to promote the comprehensive effectiveness of river water quality management. The authorities have begun to develop a budget based on the strategies and action plans developed in this study. The analytical results indicate that the objectives, strategies, and action plans developed based on the sustainable management framework and strategy planning system can effectively help the related authorities to fulfill the tasks of water quality management for a river basin.

Managing water in an integrated and sustainable manner is currently challenging water resource managers throughout the world. It requires professionals from many disciplines working together with impacted stakeholders in crafting a strategy that is economically efficient, ecologically sound, and acceptable to all who are impacted by how this resource is managed over space and time. We at universities are continually thinking about how we can better prepare our students who elect to become our future water resources planners and managers. This paper identifies some of the issues and challenges facing educators in this field, and some possible ways of addressing them. The amount of water available and suitable for human use in the world is limited. Too many humans must live with less water than what they would like, and even need, to maintain their health let alone their overall welfare. Currently the world's water resource systems are not able to provide everyone reliable potable water at reasonable costs. Populations are increasing, as are per capita demands for water. The United Nations tells us about one person in six, on average, in this world has no access to safe drinking water, and about one in three lacks adequate sanitation. In many countries these percentages are substantially higher. One can assume that those without clean water to drink are sick. The World Health Organization (WHO) tells us more than 30 thousand children under the age of five die from either hunger or from water-borne and easily-preventable diseases. We use about 70 percent of our freshwater resources for agriculture. What we get for that varies considerably. The World Water Council believes that by 2020 we shall need 17 percent more water than is currently available if we are to feed everyone. Do all these grim statistics suggest a water crisis? Will there be a water crisis in the future? Much depends on how we manage our water and our watersheds (Rogers et al. 2006). And this in turn depends on our abilities at universities to provide the personnel with the training and capacity to manage this resource effectively. With perhaps a few exceptions, those of us who live in North America are not dying from lack of water or sanitation. We are fortunate. We seem to have enough water, although the recent droughts in the southeast and in the west suggests we may be increasingly challenged to meet our demands for water supplies, to keep our rivers flowing and clean and our aquatic ecosystems functioning as they should. We can manage all our natural resources better, and professionals know this, but deciding what is better and implementing measures to be better involves more than just professionals. Politicians representing the public, and increasingly the public itself, are participants in this decision-making process. They define what is “better” and when and how to act. And inevitably acting requires money. Acting in ways to prevent crises is not always easy to do. There are always more pressing matters that get people's attention – and their money – until of course there really is a water crisis. This has prompted the well-known concept called the hydro-illogical cycle illustrating the lack of interest in planning for floods during periods of drought, or in planning for droughts when experiencing a flood. Many of the issues facing water and environmental resource managers today generally stem from the following factors: changing priorities of water and environmental management objectives over time – for example from economic efficiency to ecological health and diversity that require changes in past policies and even infrastructure, the way our institutions work, the need for multiple disciplinary inputs and public participation, uncertainties regarding future demands, supplies, and pollutant types and loads, and a lack of adequate understanding of many natural and social processes affecting, and affected by, the management of water and environmental resources. Managers and planners are challenged to develop plans and policies for serving often conflicting multiple purposes and satisfying multiple objectives expressed by multiple stakeholders representing multiple interests and backgrounds, all lacking perfect knowledge of what economic, physical, chemical, biological, ecological and social impacts will result from what ever decisions they make. We all could benefit from better science, better management tools, better training of professionals in all the applicable disciplines, and political institutions that can provide the expertise and leadership that will result in more timely, integrated, and sustainable water resources and environmental management plans and policies. The remainder of this paper outlines some current issues related to the training of individuals who wish to accept the challenges just described and contribute to improving how we manage our water and environmental resources. Recent decades have witnessed a shift in emphasis by U.S. agencies providing funds for research and training of graduates interested in environmental and water resources management. The emphasis has been on addressing scientific uncertainties and less toward planning and management issues. This runs counter to those who claim there is a need for improved environmental and water resource management. One result of this shift away from research in planning and managerial issues has been the decline of academic programs in water management and planning. Ironically, weather- and climate-related research programs, as well as large-scale observation initiatives promoted by many in the hydrologic, ecological, environmental engineering and other communities, increasingly cite benefits for water resources, environmental, and ecological management as central to their programmatic justification. Having more scientific information and the understanding that comes from it does not automatically mean we know how best to use it. There are many scientific, technical, political, practical, and regulatory challenges to integrating advances in hydrologic science into policies for managing environmental and water resources. There may be an unrealized potential, for instance, for using improvements in hydrologic forecasting based on new data sources and methods, such as embedded environmental sensors and data assimilation techniques. As science teaches us more about the processes taking place at the interface of hydrology and climate, and as the hydrologic, water quality, and associated ecological implications of land cover change become better understood, ways are needed to incorporate this knowledge into management plans and policies. Research is needed to figure out how best to do that, and trained professional planners and managers are needed to make it happen. At various universities, debates are taking place over a variety of issues, some of which are listed below. Issue #1: Educational policy – should universities turn out more well-trained engineering professionals and scientists, or more broadly trained generalists? Many will argue that there is an overarching need for people who know there is a world beyond where they live and work and can appreciate how history and culture affects current events. There is a need for individuals who can evaluate, think, and speak and write effectively at technical and non-technical levels. In my opinion, such skills should be obtained at the undergraduate level. One way to get this background is to obtain a liberal arts education (including study in a foreign country). Expertise in specific technical disciplines can be obtained at the master's level. After all, medicine, law, and business are graduate subjects. Why not in this multidisciplinary water resource field as well? Obviously for those desiring engineering or the sciences some basic introductory courses would be expected at the undergraduate level, just as pre-med courses are expected for admission to most medical schools. This is not to say we cannot train students to become competent technical professionals with engineering, economic, ecological, or natural resource degrees, for example, at the undergraduate level, but doing that eliminates the time needed for students to obtain the other skills that all should have who expect to become tomorrow's leaders in whatever they do. Yet in much of the world, attending universities costs money, especially at private universities and colleges. This means we need fellowships and training grants to attract the best and brightest students we can to our water resources profession. Issue #2: Course curricula – do they need changing? Many universities need to take a serious look at their curricula more often than they do. It seems much easier to change course contents than the overall plan. Most educators support exposing students to interdisciplinary projects at both graduate and undergraduate levels, so that students learn to participate productively in such projects and recognize the approaches and issues of fields other than their own. Engineers, economists, and ecologists especially need to appreciate each other's approaches to problem solving. Being exposed to case studies, including failed projects and those that get students out in the field is also beneficial. This gives them an appreciation of multidisciplinary team-building and dealing with multiple conflicting goals such as drought mitigation, flood management, flash flood prediction, water supply, transportation, emergency management, agriculture, and ecosystem stewardship – and conflicting opinions about how to achieve them. Issue #3: Continuing education: How can it best be provided to all professionals? Some have suggested that whatever the technical information students learn, it will be obsolete by the time they get their first job. The rate of increase in knowledge and changes in technology seem to be increasing over time. The half-life of the technical information we teach our students is decreasing. On-the-job training and continuing education throughout one's professional career is an absolute necessity. How can universities best meet this need? Some governmental agencies concerned with environmental and water resources management have programs for continuing education. However, a high turnover rate often makes this uneconomic. Professors themselves need continuing education as well. Their research provides some of this, but they also can learn from their consulting and what they do on their sabbatical leaves. All professionals should be provided such opportunities, not just academics. Issue #4: Funding. Can the needed changes in education be accomplished in the absence of changes in funding “carrots and sticks”? Difficulties in supporting students studying water and environmental resources management have led to the relative lack of students studying these subjects. University deans look for where the money is when they analyze continuing and new directions for their academic departments. The availability of fellowships, traineeships, and research grants are noticed. Industry can also provide support, and in many disciplines they do, but in the water and environmental resources arena the private sector has not been a major player. Managing water and environmental resources is primarily a public responsibility. Nevertheless industry has provided some support, for example to the American Water Works Association Research Foundation which promotes research and technology transfer. Coop programs, internships, and traineeships that expose students to the real world may be a partial solution. The USDA-CSREES coop funding program is an example for agricultural water management. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers master's degree program in planning is another example. Employers working in the water management area often report difficulties in finding employees with the appropriate backgrounds. Because of the decrease in funding of research and training grants in the water planning and management area, few young graduate students are finding their way into the field. This leads to fewer students being trained in the areas of most interest to these employers. The report Freshwater Ecosystems: Revitalizing Educational Programs in Limnology (National Research Council 1996) included a chapter on linking education and water resource management. Water is viewed as a public good, and thus those who manage it are often associated with government agencies. At a recent meeting of the National Research Council (Logan 2006), several government agencies stated their need for articulate young people prepared for working in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary teams, which is the nature of modern water management, viewing problems in a broad systems context – water management decisions made upstream “reverberate” downstream influencing eco-systems, fisheries, and the coastal zone in general, linking societal goals and objectives with performance measures and conceptual eco-logical models, adaptability in general and adaptive manage-ment in particular, quantifying and dealing with risk and uncertainty, and conflict management and resolution in a stakeholder-driven participatory political process. One can think of other skills needed to address some of our current and future management challenges. For example, how can managers most effectively design, manage and operate infrastructure in the face of non-stationarity in water supply and demand; identify and provide environmental flows in already over-allocated systems, especially in times of drought, and environmental effects of reservoir operation and dam removal; alter reservoir regulation in the face of changing uses and priorities, environmental and ecological uncertainties and needs, and possibly the removal of past engineering infrastructure such as dams and canals; predict and then respond to hydrologic responses to precipitation, surface water generation and transport, environmental stresses on aquatic ecosystems, the relationships between landscape changes, sediment fluxes, and subsurface transport, as well as mapping ground water recharge and discharge vulnerability; respond to the environmental, economic, health and social impacts caused by floods, droughts, sedimentation, and contamination including from pharmaceuticals and other household chemicals and products; provide an early warning for flooding, droughts, habitat degradation, and health hazards, increase the efficiency of water use, especially in the agricultural sector; address questions whose answers require knowledge of the quantitative relationships among various physical, chemical, biological, and social process occurring at disparate spatial or temporal scales. For example, how can we scale up to larger area forecasts from knowledge of smaller habitat patch scale ones? How can we estimate regional aquatic ecosystem processes over entire river basins often based on small plot experiments and observations? deal with deforestation, suburbanization, road construction, agriculture, and other human land-use activities that impact economies and ecosystems (changes in land cover, climate, and land use affect water quantity and quality regimes which impact ecosystem health and other uses of water such as for drinking, irrigation, industry and recreation); manage chemical and biological components of the hydrological cycle under changing land uses and habitats, and control invasive species … This list could continue. Suffice to say there are many subjects a competent water resource manager should be familiar with, at least to the extent that the issues are appreciated and that effective communication can take place between the manager and experts or specialists when appropriate. Today's planning and management environment involves public participation, not just at the final stages of planning, but throughout the process, including decision making. Tools are being developed to help all stakeholders gain a “shared vision” of how their system works, and the physical, economic, environmental, ecological and sometimes the social impacts of various plans and management policies. Such public participation does not make the planning and management processes any easier, or more efficient, or cheaper. In fact often the opposite happens. But the end result has a far better chance of being robust to multiple interests and thus more sustainable in the long run (ASCE 1998). Future water resources managers need to know how to facilitate such participation. Water resources professors cannot rest on their laurels. Planning and management issues continue to evolve as do their demands on this profession. Students today will be faced with problems and technology we can only speculate about today. But they have to be prepared to effectively address those issues and use that technology. It's the job of those of us involved in water resources planning and management programs at universities to ensure our graduates have that capability. The increasing breadth, complexity, and rate of change of professional practice places a greater emphasis not only on continuing education but also on what a basic professional education must deliver at the undergraduate as well as graduate levels. The body of knowledge necessary to effectively manage water resources is beyond the scope of the traditional bachelor's degree, even when coupled with early-career experience. Education must meld technical excellence with the ability to lead, influence, and integrate a diverse number of disciplines and stakeholders – all required to meet societal goals in some ‘best’ and most sustainable way. Ideally, graduates from university programs in water resources planning and management should be knowledgeable in their particular discipline, as well as conversant with other applicable disciplines. An engineer, for example, should not only understand how to use the theories, principles, and/or fundamentals of mathematics, physics, chemistry, engineering economics, biology, and probability and statistics underlying engineering but also be exposed to political processes, systems analysis and computer modeling, laws and regulations, history, sociology, and ethics. Most importantly, they should know how to work in interdisciplinary teams and effectively and clearly communicate orally and in writing. They must be optimistic in the face of challenges and setbacks they will surely face, and be committed to ethical behavior, both personally and professionally. After graduation they must remain curious and willing to continue learning fresh approaches, develop and use new technology or innovative applications of existing technology, and take on new endeavors that require research and ingenuity. Managing our water resources, including our ecosystems in our natural and built environments, involves both technical and administrative expertise. It involves both the “hard” as well as the “soft” sciences. In the hard sciences, the laws of physics, biology, chemistry, and mathematics are well established. The same cannot be said of the soft social and political sciences. Thus the “hard” sciences are easy. The “soft” sciences are hard. Clearly, however, we need more people competent in both to address many of the issues water resource managers are facing today. Daniel P. Loucks is a professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA, (www.cornell.edu) where he teaches and directs research in the development and application of economics, ecology and systems analysis methods for estimating the impacts of alternative policies aimed at solving environmental and regional water resources problems. He has authored articles and book chapters in these subject areas and has been involved in various development and environmental restoration projects throughout the world. He may be reached at Loucks@cornell.edu.

A strategic framework for sustainable water resource management in small island nations: the case of Barbados

Assessing alterations of water level due to environmental water allocation at multiple temporal scales and its impact on water quality in Baiyangdian Lake, China

Urban river, as an important component of urban ecological system, has many roles in urban ecological construction. Statistical and trend analysis of surface water quality from Xi'an moat river have been performed to provide a framework for sustainable water resources management. The trend analysis was performed using the non-parametric Spearman correlation and tested for statistical significance using the Student's t-test. Weekly surface water quality data from 28 stations on Xi'an Moat River have been analyzed. Apart from the statistical and trend analyses, the quality of the Xi'an moat river was assessed for other urban uses, according to the national, Environmental quality standards for surface water (GB 3838-2002). The important information has been gained from this analysis, especially on the identification of significant temporal and spatial trends of water quality parameters and the status of river water quality according to the water quality standards. The analysis indicated that the quality of the river water is, on average fair, and the river water could be used with caution for water quality standard for landscape and recreation area purposes.

Surface water quantity and quality assessment in Pinios River, Thessaly, Greece

Impact of paddy fields on water quality of Gala Lake (Turkey): An important migratory bird stopover habitat

Sustainable urban water management is increasingly challenged by uncertainty, imprecision, and hesitancy in evaluating alternative water sources. This study proposes a novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework based on fractional orthopair fuzzy (FOF) sets, designed to model partial hesitancy and fractional expert judgments more effectively than traditional fuzzy methods. Integrating an entropy-based weighting scheme and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), the framework is applied to assess water resource alternatives in Lahore, Pakistan a city facing rapid groundwater depletion, urban expansion, and declining surface water quality. The evaluation considers three key criteria: water quality, availability, and affordability across the alternatives of surface water, groundwater, and rainwater. Results show that rainwater harvesting is the most sustainable option, with a closeness coefficient of :0.8396, outperforming alternatives in terms of both cost-effectiveness and safety. Sensitivity analysis on parameters (:p, :q) confirms the model’s robustness. The findings offer actionable guidance for water authorities, emphasizing the importance of rainwater harvesting and reduced reliance on depleting groundwater. The proposed model is adaptable to other urban regions, provided expert input and contextual data are available.

In Australia and worldwide, open cut mining has become increasingly common over the last few decades through changes in excavation technology and ore economics. However, such operations frequently leave a legacy of open mine pits once mining ceases. Pit lakes will then form in mine pits that extend below the water table when dewatering operations cease. Pit lake waters are typically contaminated with metals, metalloids, saline or acidic/alkaline and rarely approach natural water body chemistry. Physically, pit lakes have unique bathymetries, are often strongly wind sheltered and have very small catchments. Nevertheless, pit lake waters often constitute a vast resource but of limited beneficial use (due to water quality issues); with a potential to contaminate regional surface and ground water resources. Water in pit lakes has the potential to be useful for a range of purposes in the Australian context of characteristic hot, dry climate and relatively few natural water bodies. Consequently, pit lakes can be seen to represent either a significant liability or a water resource to mining companies and regional communities. However, the lack of knowledge on pit lakes continues to hinder their proper management. This paper summarises the limited information currently available on water quality associated with Australian pit lakes. Information on pit lake occurrence, distribution and water quantity and quality is not nationally collated and requires immediate and ongoing attention from both mining companies and regulating authorities. Lack of a readily available database for pit lake occurrence, distribution and water quality fails to realise the potential for these water resources by both mining companies and Australian communities. Lack of access to pit lake quantity and water quality data may also lead to failure to manage this significant source of mining environmental risk.

Sustainable water resource management has become a critical issue for the development of cities that suffer scarce water resources. Tianjin City, located in China's Huaihe basin, one of the most polluted and water‐scarce river basins in the country, is a typical example in which water is posing a major constraint to the development. This paper examines the current status of the use of water resources, and the current practices and policy measures taken for water resource management in Tianjin, with a view to drawing lessons through an evaluation of these measures. The study illustrates the role of cities and their complex interaction with their peripheries for the allocation of scarce water resources, and it suggests that a systems approach should be adopted in order to analyse and understand the complexity of the entire picture. Based on this review and evaluation of Tianjin's experience, the authors propose a framework for sustainable water resource management in cities, emphasizing the importance of taking full consideration of resource/environmental capacity and an integrated systems approach for problem solving. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. and ERP Environment

Agricultural activities release variable products into air, soil and water ecosystems. The study was conducted to evaluate the impact of agriculture and concentrated livestock operations on stream and lake water quality in Grand Lake St. Marys watershed of north-western Ohio. Temporal water samples from the lake and the 6 feeding streams were collected bimonthly from January 2005 to May 2007, processed and measured for temperature, turbidity, pH, electrical conductivity (E C), ammonium $$\left( {{\text{NH}}_{\text{4}}^{\text{ + }} } \right)$$ , nitrate $$\left( {{\text{NO}}_{\text{3}}^ - } \right)$$ , dissolved phosphorus (P), ultra-violet (UV) light absorption, and dissolved oxygen (DO), employing standard methods of analysis. The measured data were normalized and integrated into a simple index (WQIndex) to evaluate overall water quality. Results showed that over 90% of the area in the watershed was under cropland with associated livestock operations. With a land area equal to 195 km2 represented by the six major tributaries, the average animal density was over 240 units km−2. As a result, land disposal of manure from confined feedings operations and direct deposit by grazing animals contributed to non-point sources of water pollution. While $$\left( {{\text{NH}}_{\text{4}}^{\text{ + }} } \right)$$ and P concentration, turbidity, and UV absorption peaked during the summer, the $$\left( {{\text{NO}}_{\text{3}}^ - } \right)$$ and DO concentration in both stream and lake water was lowest in the summer. Water sampled from the Coldwater, Beaver and Prairie creeks had higher turbidity, $$\left( {{\text{NH}}_{\text{4}}^{\text{ + }} } \right)$$ , and P than other creeks. However, DO concentration and UV absorption of water did not change significantly by the influence of streams. The WQIndex peaked in both streams and lake water with greater water quality degradation in Beaver and Coldwater creek than other creeks. A significant relationship of WQIndex with UV absorption and P accounted 84 to 90% of the variations in stream and lake water quality degradation. However, a strong linear relationship (r 2 = 0.81; p<0.01) between UV absorption and P concentration suggested a major contribution of P to the degradation of stream and lake water quality through algal blooming and associated eutrophication.