Quality of water in the Tallahatchie River near New Albany, Mississippi

The quality of water in the Tallahatchie River was somewhat affected by municipal wastes as it flowed through a 5-mile stretch near New Albany, Miss. Specific conductance, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations, and densities of bacteria in the river increased in a downstream direction. At site 1 (upstream) the mean concentration of total nitrogen was 0.28 milligram per liter with a mean total phosphorus concentration of 0.05 milligram per liter. At site 3 (downstream) mean-total nitrogen and phosphorus were 0.48 and 0.14 milligram per liter respectively. Specific conductance ranged from 90 to 125 micromhos per centimeter at site 1 and from 155 to 175 at site 3. The fecal coliform to fecal streptoccai bacteria ratio of most samples at site 1 was less than 2.0. At site 3 the ratio exceeded 4.0 in most samples indicating wastes of human origin were probably present. (USGS)