Oyster Farming

A rural Pennsylvania community addresses water quality issues and shows the benefits of targeted, collaborative, voluntary approaches to watershed conservation and implementation of BMPs in this USDA Showcase Watershed.

The water cycle in communities across Utah is pretty straightforward. Water comes out of creeks and reservoirs, serves some purpose, and is put back into the chain further downstream. But as the state’s population continues to rise, what we put back into the chain often comes with more than just water.

The Platte River is a major watershed for the plains, supporting people, agriculture and wildlife. For the past few years, a team has been capturing time-lapse images along the river. For our in-depth report “Water Demands on the Platte,” NET News looked into how those photographs are creating an innovative new look at the entire river basin.

One of the biggest users of the Platte doesn’t actually take water out of the river. It’s used by wildlife—especially migrating birds. Most Nebraskans are familiar with the annual spectacle of millions of birds roosting in the central Platte on their way north. But few know how much work occurs year round to maintain this quality habitat, especially for endangered species. For our in-depth report “Water Demands on the Platte,” NET News looked at how the river is being managed for wildlife.

Nebraska leads the nation in the number of irrigated acres. The Platte River is one of the main sources of that irrigation water. Over time, those demands have increased. And farmers, water managers and seed companies are becoming more water efficient. For our in-depth report “Water Demands on the Platte,” NET News looked at a few of the ways Nebraskans are maximizing water for agriculture.

There's no chance that agriculture could flourish in Utah on rainfall alone. But one way to create more water in our system is to be more efficient with what we have; so researchers are working on making irrigation more predictable and more precise.