Laboratory Quality Control Report: Why is it Important?

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) maintains a fee-based water quality lab that is certified through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The AWRC Water Quality Lab analyzes water samples for a variety of constituents, using standard methods for the analysis of water samples (APHA 2012). Whether you have one or several water samples tested, the lab generates a report of values for each parameter that you have analyzed, which is provided to the client. Included with every water quality report is a Lab Quality Control (QC) report for each of the parameters analyzed within the package. The Lab QC report provides important information about the performance of the methods used to test your water sample(s)

Water Quality Reporting Limits, Method Detection Limits, and Censored Values: What Does It All Mean?

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) maintains a fee-based water-quality lab that is certified by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The AWRC Water Quality Lab analyzes water samples for a variety of constituents, using standard methods for the analysis of water samples (APHA 2012). The lab generates a report on the analysis, which is provided to clientele, and reports the concentrations or values as measured. Often times the concentrations or values might be very small, even zero as reported by the lab – what does this mean? How should we use this information? This document is intended to help our clientele understand the analytical report, the values, and how one might interpret information near the lower analytical limits. Every client wants the analysis of their water sample(s) to be accurate and precise, but what do we really mean when we say those two words? These words are often used synonymously or thought of as being the same, but the two words mean two different things. Both are equally important when analyzing water samples for constituent concentrations

How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Poultry Analytical Package

Rapidly growing birds may consume up to twice as much water as feed (Scantling and Watkins 2013), which means a plentiful supply of clean water is crucial for poultry health and productivity. To determine the quality of your poultry’s water resources, periodic sampling and analysis is needed. Analyzing water supplies can also be a crucial tool in identifying existing or potential challenges. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to poultry producers on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the “Poultry Water Report Form” provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern

How to Sample: Collecting Water Samples is so Easy, Anyone can do it!

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) runs a water quality lab that anyone can use to have their water sample tested. The AWRC Lab is certified for the analysis of water samples, but the quality (and meaningfulness) of the data generated by the Lab is also dependent on you – the client. This fact sheet provides you some general guidance on how to properly collect your water sample

How to Collect your Water Sample & Interpret the Results for the Domestic Analytical Packages

Whether you rely on a municipal water source or a private well for your drinking water needs, having access to clean drinking water is important to everyone. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service, both of which are part of the U of A System’s Division of Agriculture, offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the Domestic Water Report Form”provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The AWRC Water Quality Lab is a state certified lab through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality; however, the certification does not cover drinking water. Therefore, the information contained within this fact sheet and your Domestic Water Report Form should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from state Extension water quality specialist regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern

How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Livestock Analytical Package

A plentiful supply of clean water is crucial for livestock health and productivity. To determine the quality of your livestock’s water resources, periodic sampling and analysis is needed. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to livestock owners on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the results on your report provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern

How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Irrigation Analytical Package

Irrigation represents a significant portion of the total production cost for crops. Because of this it is important to have your water tested to ensure that it is suitable for the crops you are growing, and to aid in developing management plans that might help alleviate existing issues such as high salt levels or high alkalinity. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to farmers on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the “Irrigation (All Crops) Water Report Form” and “Irrigation (Drip or Trickle) Water Report Form” provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern

How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Fish Pond Analytical Package

The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to aquaculture producers and pond owners on the “Fish Pond Report” provided by the AWRC’s water quality laboratory. The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern. The Aquaculture Center for Excellence is at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, see aqfi.uaex.edu for more information and fisheries contact

Conservation practice could benefit from routine testing and publication of management outcomes

Effective conservation requires a step change in the way practitioners can contribute to science and can have access to research outputs. The journal Conservation Evidence was established in 2004 to help practitioners surmount several obstacles they face when attempting to document the effects of their conservation actions scientifically. It is easily and freely accessible online. It is free to publish in and it enables global communication of the effects of practical trials and experiments, which are virtually impossible to get published in most scientific journals. The driving force behind Conservation Evidence is the need to generate and share scientific information about the effects of interventions

The landscape ecological impact of afforestation on the British uplands and some initiatives to restore native woodland cover

The majority of forest cover in the British Uplands had been lost by the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, because of felling followed by overgrazing by sheep and deer. The situation remained unchanged until a government policy of afforestation, mainly by exotic conifers, after the First World War up to the present day. This paper analyses the distribution of these predominantly coniferous plantations, and shows how they occupy specific parts of upland landscapes in different zones throughout Britain. Whilst some landscapes are dominated by these new forests, elsewhere the blocks of trees are more localised. Although these forests virtually eliminate native ground vegetation, except in rides and unplanted land, the major negative impacts are at the landscape level. For example, drainage systems are altered and ancient cultural landscape patterns are destroyed. These impacts are summarised and possible ways of amelioration are discussed. By contrast, in recent years, a series of projects have been set up to restore native forest cover, as opposed to the extensive plantations of exotic species. Accordingly, the paper then provides three examples of such initiatives designed to restore native forests to otherwise bare landscapes, as well as setting them into a policy context. Whilst such projects cover a limited proportion of the British Uplands they nevertheless restore forest to landscapes at a local level