The Maple Creek 

watershed in 

eastern Nebraska 

is one of five 

watersheds 

selected by the 

USGS National 

Water-Quality 

Assessment 

(NAWQA) Program 

for a special study 

of agricultural 

chemicals and 

water quality. 

 The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is studying five watersheds across the Nation to better understand how natural factors 

and agricultural management practices (AMPs) affect the transport of water and chemicals. Natural factors include climate and 

landscape (soil type, topography, geology), and AMPs include 

practices related to tillage, irrigation, and chemical application. 

The study approach is similar in each watershed so that we can 

compare and contrast the results and more accurately predict 

conditions in other agricultural settings. 

 Study objectives

 • Understand the links between the sources of water and 

agricultural chemicals (nutrients and pesticides) and their 

behavior and transport through the environment 

 • Predict the behavior and transport of water and agricultural 

chemicals in other agricultural areas not being studied

 • Evaluate what the study results mean for management of 

water and water quality in a variety of agricultural settings 

 Why study the Maple Creek watershed?

 Maple Creek and the other four watersheds represent nationally important agricultural settings (chemical use, crops, and 

AMPs) and natural settings (climate, geology, topography, and 

soils). Maple Creek, which is part of the Elkhorn River watershed, 

is representative of corn and soybean row cropping in the upper 

Great Plains. 

 Other features of the watershed that are relevant to this study:

 • Use of agricultural chemicals: Chemicals used include herbicides such as atrazine, alachlor, acetochlor, metolachlor, and 

glyphosate; and fertilizers, both organic and inorganic. 

 • Distinct natural setting: The rolling upland hills and a permeable surficial aquifer overlain by less permeable glacial till 

allow water and chemicals to move overland to streams and 

into Maple Creek. The relatively flat valley bottom lands and 

wooded riparian zones along Maple Creek reduce runoff from 

fields. 

 • Variety of agricultural management practices: AMPs include 

tillage and no-tillage; use of central pivot irrigation; maintenance of grassy waterways and riparian buffer zones; construction of storm retention ponds.

 • Water-quality issues: Herbicides and nutrients have been frequently detected in eastern Nebraska surface and ground water, 

including in drinking-water wells (findings of USGS studies 

since the 1990s). 

 We appreciate your help 

 We are working with local growers and land owners to 

gain access to study sites. We also need information about the 

watershed and about current as well as historical agricultural 

management practices—past practices also affect concentrations 

of agricultural chemicals in ground and surface water. 

 We will report the findings of the study in public meetings 

and in publications. These findings will provide information that 

will be useful for improving agricultural management locally 

and nationally, and will guide future studies in other watersheds.

 Maple Creek Watershed Selected for a National Water-Quality Study

����������������

������������

������������

����������������

������

������������������

������������

�������������������������

������������������

��������������

�������������������

���������

Maple

Creek

Dry

Creek

West

Maple

Creek

Fork

Maple

Creek

Fork

East

���������������������

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

 Fact Sheet 083-03

 August 2003 Printed on recycled paper
What kind of data Why the data are collected How often

Meteorological data, including rainfall, 

wind speed, solar radiation, and air temperature. Soil temperature and moisture

To determine amount of precipitation and how 

much water from land surface reaches the water 

table, how much is lost to evapotranspiration

Continuously for 2 years

Amount of streamflow at Maple Creek 

near Nickerson, NE, gaging station and 

at unnamed tributary to the South Fork of 

Dry Creek near Schuyler, NE

To interpret water-quality data correctly 

(the amount of water in streams affects chemical 

concentrations) 

Continuously since 1951 at Maple 

Creek (real-time data available at 

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ne/nwis/

uv?site_no=06800000 ). Since May 

2003 at unnamed tributary to the 

South Fork of Dry Creek

Quality of stream water, runoff water, 

rain water1

To quantify the transport and behavior of natural 

and agricultural chemicals

Several times a year (>14 

samples) for 2 years, with intensive sampling during application 

season

Ground-water levels in wells To determine direction of ground-water flow, 

which affects transport of chemicals

At least quarterly in some wells, 

continuously in others for at least 

1 year

Quality of ground water, soil water, and 

shallow water in and around streambed/

riparian zone1

To quantify the transport and behavior of natural 

and agricultural chemicals

At least quarterly for 1 year

Quality of sediment in streambed and soils 

in agricultural fields1

To quantify the storage, behavior, and transport of 

water and chemicals in the soils and sediment

At least once during study

 1

In this study, water-quality and sediment-quality data include concentrations of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorous), pesticides and pesticide breakdown 

products, and natural constituents and properties, including major ions (calcium, magnesium, chloride, etc.), organic carbon, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. 

 Data Collection in the Maple Creek Watershed, 2003–2004

 We would like to thank

 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 

Conservation and Survey Division

 Publication

 Frenzel, S.A., and others, 1998, Water 

Quality in the Central Nebraska Basins, 

1992-95, U.S. Geological Survey Circular 

1163. 

 For more information

 Jason Vogel, Lead Scientist, Maple Creek study 

(402) 437-5129, jrvogel@usgs.gov

 Paul Capel, Team Leader, National study

(612) 625-3082, capel@usgs.gov

 NAWQA Program http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa 

 The USGS provides reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property 

from natural disasters; manage water, biological, energy and mineral resources; and enhance and protect our quality of life.

��������

�������

����

��������� ����

����������

���������������������

�����������

�������������

���������

����������������������

������������������������

������������

���������������������

������������������������

�������������������� �������

��������������

����������������������

���������������������

��������������������������

�����������������

������������������

 At a typical study site, several methods 

are used to collect water and chemical 

samples from the air, soil, surface 

water, and ground water.

After being applied to the land 

surface, agricultural chemicals can 

move upward into the atmosphere, 

downward through the soil to shallow 

ground water and underlying aquifers, 

eventually discharging to streams, or 

run off across the land into streams, 

eventually moving downstream to 

reservoirs and coastal waters. This 

process can take days, weeks, or even 

decades if water moves underground 

through the ground-water system.