Apalachicola-Chatahoochee Flint River Basin Ground Water Data

Surface- and ground-water quality data were collected in the
Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River basin from August 1992 to
September 1995 as part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment
(NAWQA) program described below. The ACF River basin drains about
19,800 square miles in western Georgia, eastern Alabama, and the
Florida panhandle into the Apalachicola Bay, which discharges into the
Gulf of Mexico. Data collected as part of this study focused on five
major land uses: poultry production in the headwaters of the
Chattahoochee River, urban and suburban areas of Metropolitan Atlanta
and Columbus, silviculture in the piedmont and fall line hills, and
row crop agriculture in the upper coastal plain (clastic hydrogeologic
setting) and the lower coastal plain (karst hydrogeologic setting).

This description is for the ground-water data. Data for the
ground-water component of the ACF River basin study were collected as
part of three studies: Study Unit Survey, Land Use Studies (Urban and
Agriculture) and Agricultural flow system study. The data are grouped
by study component and site type (wells, springs, drains, and pore
water) and are subdivided into sets of data consisting of related
constituents. A complete list of constituent names and MRL's are
available.

The user can view and retrieve these ground-water data sets:
Field measurements, Nutrients, Organic carbon, Turbidity, Major Ions,
Pesticides, Trace elements (collected as part of the Study Unit Survey
and Urban Landuse only), Volatile organic compounds, Radionuclides and
Stable isotopes.

Ground-water quality data were collected at 161 sites within the ACF
River basin. These sites included a combination of monitoring and
domestic wells, springs and seeps, and subsurface drains. The data are
concentrated in the Metropolitan Atlanta (urban land use) area and in
the coastal plain (agricultural land use).

These data and associated locator maps are accessible on the World
Wide Web at the ACF NAWQA home page. Data are presented in manageable
tables that are grouped based on land use, site type, and project
component. The user can view maps and data tables on the computer
screen, or downloaded data tables as tab delimited (RDB) files.

Data collected as part of the ACF River basin study are presented by
project component: surface-water, ground-water, special studies,
streamflow, ancillary, and quality assurance data. The water-quality
data are presented by major headings, including water-column,
bed-sediment and tissue, and biological. The data are further
subdivided into data sets consisting of related constituents. Data
tables can be viewed on the users computer screen or retrieved to a
users computer as a tab delimited Relational Data Base (RDB) file. To
reduce the size of the pesticide, volatile organic compound, bed
sediment and tissue, and trace element tables, only those compounds
found equal to, or above the minimum reporting limit (MRL) for one or
more sites within a group, are shown. The remaining compounds were not
detected. A complete list of constituent names and MRL's are
available.

The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is designed to describe the status and
trends in the quality of the Nation's ground- and surface-water
resources and to provide a sound understanding of the natural and
human factors that affect the quality of these resources (Leahy and
others, 1990). Because much of the public concern over water quality
stems from a desire to protect both human health and aquatic life, the
NAWQA Program will, in addition to measuring physical and chemical
indicators of water-quality, assess the status of aquatic life through
surveys of fish, invertebrates, and benthic algae, and habitat
conditions (National Research Council, 1990). As an integrated
assessment of water quality incorporating physical, chemical, and
biological components, the NAWQA Program is ecological in approach.