Water Quality

The physical, chemical and biological properties of water – together termed water quality – vary in space and time in response to interactions among weather, rocks and life.  These interactions are increasingly influenced by the cumulative footprint of humanity, with water appropriation and disposal, climate change, land use intensification, and a growing array of contaminants threatening water resources, ecosystem integrity and human health.  Understanding water quality as water moves between land, sea and air is our fundamental charge. 

The water quality technical committee (WQTC) is comprised of a broad array of scientists and engineers interested in furthering our interdisciplinary understanding about the materials (solutes, sediments, biota) that water carries.  We work on water quality questions across scales, issues, and processes to facilitate a cross-disciplinary conversation – along with colleagues from other sections of AGU – about grand challenges like eutrophication, plastic pollution, acidification, the growing use of nanomaterials, the sustainability of food production, and climate change.   Among our primary roles is to develop cross-cutting special sessions at the AGU Fall Meeting that explore the many facets of water quality, from watershed source tracking to ecological controls to human impacts.  Our committee is always seeking input from the community for the development of these sessions. Please contact us if you are interested in participating on the committee or proposing a special session at the next meeting.

Grand Challenges of the AGU Centennial in Water Quality

There are crucial water quality questions to be addressed.  As we reflect on and celebrate 100 years of science at AGU, we have identified 3 key questions that span our charge from theoretical to actionable, from local to global, and from analysis to synthesis:

I. What are the key emerging trends in environmental water quality and water quality assessment?

II. How do changing landscape cover and connectivity, as well as changing climate and landscape legacies, impact these water quality trends?

III .What tools and techniques are necessary to provide actionable inference about water quality improvement?

Water Quality Sessions at the 2022 AGU Fall Meeting

The Fall 2022 meeting will again be among the premier scientific venues for hydrologists and earth scientists to share results and get inspired to address these questions.  We are always eager to help facilitate session proposals that relate to water quality - please contact the committee if you have any ideas.