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Streamflow and Water-Quality Characteristics at Selected Sites of the St. Johns River in Central Florida, 1933 to 2002

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Streamflow and Water-Quality Characteristics at Selected Sites of the St. Johns River in Central Florida, 1933 to 2002 Streamflow and Water-Quality Characteristics at Selected Sites of the St. Johns River in Central Florida, 1933 to 2002 By Sharon E. Kroening Prepared in cooperation with the St. Johns River Water Management District Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5177 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2004 For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Suggested citation: Kroening, S.E., 2004, Streamflow and Water-Quality Characteristics at Selected Sites of the St. Johns River in Central Florida, 1933 to 2002: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5177, 102 p. iii Contents Abstract . 1 Introduction . 2 Previous Studies . 4 Purpose and Scope. 5 Description of the Study Area. 5 Climate. 5 Hydrogeologic Setting . 6 Hydrologic Setting. 7 Land Use and Land Cover . 8 Wastewater . 10 Approach and Methods . 10 Streamflow Data . 11 Retrospective Water-Quality Data. 11 Data Collected for this Study . 15 Sample Collection and Analysis Methods . 16 Quality Assurance. 17 Continuous Monitoring Data. 19 Data Analysis Methods . 19 Acknowledgments . 21 Streamflow Characteristics . 22 Temporal Trends . 22 Seasonal Variation . 25 Streamflow Reversals . 25 Flow Duration. 27 Low-Flow Frequency Statistics . 28 Water-Quality Characteristics. 28 Water Temperature. .31 Dissolved Oxygen . 32 Water pH. 36 Specific Conductance . 38 Total Dissolved Solids. .40 Major Ions. 42 Silica . 52 Minor Inorganic Constituents . 55 Sulfide . 55 Iron. 56 Bromide. 56 Water Color and Organic Carbon. 58 Nutrients . 64 iv Total Nitrogen . 67 Ammonia Nitrogen . 68 Organic Plus Ammonia Nitrogen . 70 Nitrate Nitrogen . 70 Total Phosphorus . 74 Orthophosphate Phosphorus . 75 Chlorophyll-a . 78 Turbidity . 80 Total Suspended Solids . 80 Human and Veterinary Antibiotics, Other Human Prescription and Nonprescrip- tion Drugs, Pesticides, and Organic and Wastewater Constituents. 81 Temporal Trends (1991-99). 86 Summary . 86 References . 89 Appendix A. Sites with retrospective water-quality data compiled for this report. 96 Appendix B. Water-quality constituents analyzed in stream water collected during this study . 97 Appendix C. Streamflow duration statistics at selected sites on the St. Johns, Econlockhatchee, and Wekiva Rivers and Blackwater Creek. 102 Figures 1. Map showing location of the St. Johns River Basin, central Florida. 3 2. Graph showing mean monthly temperature and rainfall at the Orlando airport, 1961-90. 6 3. Map showing generalized land use and land cover in the study area, 1999 . 9 4. Map showing location of study area and stream sites . 13 5-11. Graphs showing: 5. Seven-day annual minimum low-flow values plus 4,000, and the corresponding fit by the Pearson Type III distribution for data from the St. Johns River near DeLand, Florida. 20 6. Annual minimum streamflow averaged over 7 consecutive days at the Econlockhatchee River near Chuluota, Florida . 24 7. Annual minimum streamflow averaged over 7 consecutive days at the Wekiva River near Sanford, Florida, 1935-2000 . 24 8. Streamflow-duration hydrographs for sites on the St. Johns River and Blackwater Creek, water years 1985-2000 . ..
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