Preliminary assessment of sediment sources in the Lower Little Bow River watershed using Diffuse Reflectance Spectrometry
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Date
2014
Authors
Caron, Melody E.G.
Lobb, David A.
Liu, Kui
Miller, Jim J.
Owens, Philip N.
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Abstract
The Lower Little Bow River watershed was one of the study sites in
Agriculture and Agri-food Canada’s Watershed Evaluation of BMPs
(WEBs) program. The 55,664-hectare Lower Little Bow River Watershed
is located within the Oldman River Basin in southwest Alberta (Figure 1).
The Lower Little Bow River WEBs project focused on a micro-watershed
(2,565 hectares) north of Lethbridge (Figure 2). Land use in the Lower
Little Bow River watershed includes a wide range of agricultural activities
and intensities such as cow-calf operations on native range, dryland
farming, intensive irrigated row crop farming, and intensive livestock
operations. Sediment in the river impairs water quality and is suspected of
causing problems with farm irrigation systems which draw water from the
river. There are several potential sources of sediment along the reach of
the river studied in the WEBs project, and this research was undertaken to
assess their importance.
Description
Keywords
2014, agricultural, Lower Little Bow River watershed, Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, WEBs Program, Oldman River Basin, Alberta, Diffuse Reflectance Spectrometry, suspended sediment