Data set used to develop a conceptual framework for effectively anticipating water-quality changes resulting from changes in agricultural activities

Agricultural activities can impact water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems. A conceptual framework was developed that combined generalized concepts on the movement of water, the environmental behavior of chemicals and eroded soil, and the designed functions of various agricultural activities. The framework addresses the impacts on water quality of a broad range of agricultural chemicals and sediment across a variety of hydrologic settings. This USGS data release contains 2013 streamflow, baseflow, and precipitation data from three hydrologically-diverse streams in the United States used to help develop the framework. Chesterville Branch near Crumpton, MD, (USGS Site 01493112) had substantial baseflow throughout the year with increased streamflow within a day of rainfall. Indian Creek at State Line RD, Leawood, KS (USGS Site 06893390) was a fast flow-dominated urban steam that was not well connected to shallow groundwater. The watershed of Leary-Weber Ditch at Mohawk, IN (USGS Site 03361638 had an extensive subsurface drainage network. The hydrographs were separated into baseflow and non-baseflow components (surrogates for slowflow and fastflow) by the method of Eckhardt (2005) using the approximation of the Collischonn and Fan (2013) for one of the fitting parameters.