South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC)
Water Quality
Our Data Networks:
Real-time water quality: Georgia | North Carolina | South Carolina
Historical water quality: Georgia | North Carolina | South Carolina
Site information: Georgia | North Carolina | South Carolina
Our list of water-quality projects and topics are listed below (view the list of archived projects for Water Quality).
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SPARROW Modeling for North Carolina Watersheds
In North Carolina, excessive nutrient and sediment loadings have contributed to the degradation of surface-water quality across the state as a result of agricultural activities and population growth increases. To further understand the influences of human activities and natural processes on surface-water quality, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) developed the SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced...
Understanding the Effects of Stormwater Management Practices on Water Quality and Flow
Urban development can have detrimental impacts on streams including altering hydrology, increasing nutrient, sediment, and pollutant loadings, and degrading biological integrity. Stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) can be used to mitigate the effects of urban development by retaining large volumes of stormwater runoff and treating runoff to remove pollutants. This project focuses on...
Georgia Statewide Water-quality Monitoring Program
The US Geological Survey (USGS) has cooperated with the State of Georgia to monitor water quality throughout the State since 1937. The current Statewide Water-quality Montoring Program is a network of 50 stations across Georgia operated in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Division of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GAEPD). Over the years, the temporal and spatial...
Groundwater/Surface Water Interaction near Ellerbe Creek, Durham, NC
Falls Lake has been included in the North Carolina Division of Water Quality’s 303(d) list of “impaired” waters, due to violations of the State chlorophyll-a standard caused by excessive nutrient inputs (North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, 2010a). The North Carolina Environmental Management Commission has adopted nutrient management...
Quantifying Floodplain Ecological Processes and Ecosystem Services in the Delaware River Watershed
Floodplain and wetland areas provide critical ecosystem services to local and downstream communities by retaining sediments, nutrients, and floodwaters. The loss of floodplain functionality due to land use conversion and degradation reduces the provisioning of these services. Assessing, quantifying, and valuing floodplain ecosystem services provide a framework to estimate how floodplain...
Chattahoochee River, Georgia BacteriAlert
Background: How safe is it to swim, wade, and boat in the Chattahoochee River today? For a highly urbanized river such as the Chattahoochee, much of the answer depends on bacteria levels in the water. This website provides "real time" turbidity data, the estimated Escherichia coli (E coli) bacteria count, the most recent E. coli bacteria counts (sample collected each Thursday), and National...
Widespread occurrence and potential for biodegradation of bioactive contaminants in Congaree National Park, South Carolina
Organic contaminants with designed molecular bioactivity, such as pesticides and pharmaceuticals, originate from human and agricultural sources, occur frequently in surface waters, and threaten the structure and function of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Congaree National Park in South Carolina (USA) is a vulnerable park unit due to its location downstream of multiple urban and...
Water quality characterization of bridge deck runoff in North Carolina
There is evidence that bridge deck runoff has a relatively high loading of a variety of constituents such as nutrients, solids, pesticides, metals, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Information on the quality of bridge deck runoff in North Carolina is, however, lacking. Stormwater permits are designed to reduce nonpoint source loadings of anthropogenically derived constituents to...
Stream quality assessments in the Southeast
Development of a Coastal Salinity Index
A critical aspect of the uniqueness of coastal drought is the effects on the salinity dynamics of creeks, rivers, and estuaries. The location of the freshwater–saltwater interface along the coast is an important factor in the ecological and socioeconomic dynamics of coastal communities. Salinity is a critical response...
Triangle Area, NC, Water Supply Monitoring
The Research Triangle area, located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River basins, is one of the most rapidly developing areas in the Nation. Growth has increased demand for water from public suppliers, the majority of which draw water from streams and lakes in the region. Growth also brings the threat of greater loads of contaminants and new contaminant sources that, if not properly...
Assessment of Groundwater Availability in Aiken County, South Carolina
The objective of this project is to develop a groundwater-flow model that can be used by Aiken County water managers to manage current and projected reported and unreported demands on groundwater resource and to ensure the highest quality of groundwater.
Project Chief: Bruce Campbell
Cooperator: Aiken County, Gilbert-Summit Rural Water District, City of Aiken, Breezy Hill Water and...