Urban Water 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 managed...

The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) has partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to assess the water-quality and geomorphologic impacts resulting from the I-26 construction projects in western North Carolina. Streamflow, precipitation, and water-quality monitoring data, coupled with periodic assessments of geomorphology, will support the NCDOT construction-site...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) geographic area has two Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) watersheds: Proctor Creek in Atlanta, GA, and Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC. The local efforts in Walnut Creek are supported by many partner organizations, including but not limited to: Partners for Environmental Justice, the Carolina Wetlands Association, the...

The South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) geographic area has two Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) watersheds: Proctor Creek in Atlanta, GA (Figure 1) and the newly established partnership for Walnut Creek in Raleigh, NC. SAWSC is working on two UWFP projects in the Proctor Creek Watershed focused on fecal-associated pathogens (Figure 2) and microplastics (Figure 3). This work in...

Issue: Managing stormwater runoff in developing areas

In the Atlanta metropolitan area, a hydrologic data-collection network has been established to collect real-time streamflow, precipitation, continuous and discrete water-quality data. The USGS South Atlantic Water Science Center (SAWSC) Urban Hydrology Unit (UHU), located in Norcross, Georgia, has been working in cooperation with local municipal and county agencies in and around the Atlanta...

The City of Raleigh partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to assist in assessing streambank erosion hotspots along the City of Raleigh’s stream network to support the City’s efforts of prioritizing future stream mitigation projects. Streambank erosion potential will be assessed using remotely sensed light detection and ranging (lidar) data, field assessments of streambank conditions...

The Albemarle-Pamilco Drainage Study Unit (ALBE) is part of the National Water Quality Program (NWQP, formerly National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA)). NWQP is an ongoing program of the U.S. Geological Survey to provide an understanding of water-quality conditions; whether conditions are getting better or worse over time; and how natural features and human activities affect those conditions.

The objective of this study is to develop a county-wide assessment of groundwater availability within the fractured-rock aquifer system in Wake County that will prepare the County for planning into the future. The goal is to develop a comprehensive groundwater budget for the county, including sources and distribution of water into the system and out of the system. Since fractured rock aquifers...

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...

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 strategies...

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 Park...