Apalachicola-Chatahoochee-Flint River Basin Surface 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 surface-water sites which are grouped
based on six landuse classifications: poultry, suburban, urban,
silviculture, agriculture (clastic geology) and agriculure (karst
geology), and by site type: main stem and tributary. The data are
grouped into three catogories including water column, bed sediment and
tissue, and Biological. The data are further subdivided into sets of
related constituents. A complete list of constituent names and MRL's
is available.

The user can view and retrieve these surface-water data sets:

Water Column: Field Measurements, Nutrients, Major Ions, Suspended
Sediment, Organic Carbon, Turbidity, Pesticides .

Bed-Sediment and Tissue: Semivolitile Organic Compounds in Sediment,
Organochlorine Compounds in Sediment, Major and Trace Elements in
Sediment, Organochlorine Compounds in Tissue, Trace Elements in Tissue.

Biological: Algae, Fish, Invertebrates.

Physical, chemical, and biological data were collected at 132 stream
sites and at 15 locations within 6 reservoirs. The monitoring network
is a nested design with a core of fixed monitoring sites (integrator
and indicator sites), a group of land-use comparison sites, and a
group of mixed land use sites including large tributaries and main
stem rivers that provide spatial distribution. Water samples were
collected at frequencies varying from hourly to annually, depending on
the intended purpose, and were analyzed for nutrients, carbon,
pesticides, major ions, and field parameters.

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.