Water use
What is it? How are people interacting and influencing the environment? Is there heavy boating traffic, which can disturb sediments and increase turbidity? Are people fishing?
Why is it important? Understanding how people interact with the environment can indicate the ways in which humans affect the environment.
What does it mean? Traffic/boats disturb sediments and can increase algal growth. Boats also bring ballast water and invasive species, such as zebra mussels attached to the hull, that impact the waterways they have been transferred to. Deposits left by boats can also change the water’s chemistry and can make the environment overly alkaline or acidic.