New on-line tool touted as a simple, practical way to 'tell the story' of water quality on agricultural operations
As concerns over water quality issues gain profile, many responsible producers are looking for new ways to assess water sources on their farms and ranches. But at the same time as public knowledge of water issues increases, so too does the complexity involved in making fully informed water management decisions. Water quality and its suitability for different uses is part of that picture.
So, to water extension specialists and others who deal with producers on a daily basis, the message was clear: producers and others on private water supplies need a simple, practical, user-friendly tool to wade through the complexities involved in interpreting water quality test data. It's for this reason that the Rural Water Quality Information Tool (RWQIT), available on the Alberta Agriculture and Food (AF) Ropin' the Web site, has been developed.
"The RWQIT is a personalized, unbiased tool which helps producers and other rural water users in Alberta assess the quality and suitability of their raw or treated water," says Murray Tenove, a water quality engineer with AF.
"Not only can it help them get more value from the limited testing producers can afford, but having customized interpretations of their results can provide a springboard from which to make crucial decisions."
The development of the RWQIT was spearheaded by water specialists from the AF Agricultural Stewardship Division as well as Agriculture and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada - Prairie Farm Rehabilitation Administration (AAFC – PFRA). It was driven by the need for more effective and consistent interpretation of data from the testing of private water, says Tenove.
"Because of specialization and conflict of interest issues, most laboratories that analyze water samples do not provide interpretation of the data they provide. If they do, it's usually rudimentary," he says. "Instead, it's up to producers to interpret the analysis. Most of the time, this involves seeking out a water specialist."
The data supporting RWQIT reports comes from the most credible information available, including the Canadian Water Quality guidelines, says Tenove. "The information is peer reviewed to make sure RWQIT developers got it right. Ultimately, it helps producers get more value from their water tests and in the process educates them on the factors they should look out for in their water and water systems."
The RWQIT was designed to be as comprehensive as possible, accounting for variables such as end use and the needs of specific commodities. The first thing producers using the tool are asked is what the water is used for: irrigation, livestock or spray water. From there, users are asked to enter a series of values provided by the laboratory which performed the water analysis.
The program then identifies areas of risk on a parameter specific level. Risks are reported to the user through a colour code of red, yellow and green "lights." Red lights indicate definite risks, yellow lights that they are approaching a red, and green lights signify acceptable risks.
A blue diamond icon indicates that there may be insufficient accepted science to come to a definite conclusion. "Sometimes these blue diamonds identify parameters that are not of great concern for the particular use selected or that there are no thresholds available for them," says Tenove.
"If there are too many red lights, we strongly recommend working in concert with the other services available in order to see if the interpretation is consistent or whether better alternatives exist," says Tenove. "It's useful to recognize that the parameters which drive the results are appropriate for Alberta. We don't recommend that private water users from other provinces use the tool as their only source of information."
A key advantage of the RWQIT is that it's an ongoing project, with plans for the expansion of the project's scope — such as the addition of human drinking water use assessment — slated for the near future. Links to factsheets on source development and protection, at-source improvements, treatment devices and systems, and troubleshooting and selection are already included but may be customized to the water tests in later developments. RWQIT users can voluntarily and anonymously provide their data to speed this development effort, says Tenove.
But perhaps an even greater opportunity, from the perspective of the industry as a whole, lies in the ongoing development process itself. "A great deal of research went into the development of the RWQIT and in the process we were able to identify 'gaps' in our knowledge base as well as the things producers really wanted to know about water testing," says Tenove.
"We see the blue diamonds that pop up on producers' detailed reports from the RWQIT as future opportunities to fill these gaps or target research that will expand our overall knowledge of rural private water use."
The Rural Water Quality Information Tool is available on the Alberta Agriculture and Food Ropin' the Web site at http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/app84/rwqit.
The Alberta Agriculture and Food Agricultural Technology & Innovation Branch has a mandate to support industry competitiveness and sustainability through applied engineering research, technology development, and technology related to crop and livestock production and by providing technical support to programs such as the Environmental Farm Plan (EFP) program.
Reprinted with permission of the AgTech Centre, Lethbridge, Alberta