Quality of water in Luxapallia Creek at Columbus, Mississippi
A quality-of-water study was conducted on September 9-12, 1979, on Luxapallila Creek and its tributaries, Magby and McCrary Creeks. The short term study indicated that the water in Luxapallila, Magby, and McCrary Creeks is suitable for many purposes.
The dissolved-oxygen concentration, temperature, and pH of the water in Luxapallila Creek changed little downstream from site 1 to site 5. The mean specific conductance increased from 25 micromhos per centimeter at site 1 to 46 micromhos per centimeter at site 5. The concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus species, densities of fecal bacteria and 5-day biochemical-oxygen-demand load in Luxapallila Creek also increased downstream.
The maximum BOD5 increased from 0.7 mg/L at the upstream site to 2.6 mg/L at the most downstream site. The maximum total nitrogen concentration increased from 0.71 mg/L to 2.0 mg/L. The maximum ammonia nitrogen concentration increased from 0.08 mg/L to 0.50 mg/L. Maximum nitrate plus nitrite concentrations increased from 0.13 mg/L to 0.15 mg/L and the maximum organic nitrogen concentrations increased from 0.53 mg/L to 1.6 mg/L.
Maximum total phosphorus concentrations increased from 0.04 mg/L at the upstream site to 0.30 mg/L at the downstream site.
The fecal coliform to fecal streptococcus ratio of three of five samples collected at site 5 was greater than 4.0 strongly suggesting the presence of human wastes at the downstream sites during the study.
Citation Information
Publication Year | 1982 |
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Title | Quality of water in Luxapallia Creek at Columbus, Mississippi |
DOI | 10.3133/ofr82373 |
Authors | Stephen J. Kalkhoff |
Publication Type | Report |
Publication Subtype | USGS Numbered Series |
Series Title | Open-File Report |
Series Number | 82-373 |
Index ID | ofr82373 |
Record Source | USGS Publications Warehouse |