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Stream Quality Is a Barometer of Urban Land-Use Pressures on a Watershed

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Stream Quality Is a Barometer of Urban Land-Use Pressures on a Watershed Stream quality is a barometer of urban land-use pressures on a watershed. Managing land use in a watershed is vital to protecting drinking-water supplies, recreational opportunities, and stream ecosystem health. However, the effect of land use and management practices on streams is difficult to assessand often unmeasured. Pollution due to land use, or nonpoint-source pollution, is complex in its origin, transport, impacts, and response to management practices. How does urbanization affect sediment or nutrient loads in streams? How effective is a detention pond or a stream-buffer requirement? In six watersheds of Gwin- nett County, Georgia, monitoring results of an ongoing study show the effects of land use on streamflow and on loads of suspendedsolids, metals, and nutrients. Gwinnett County background Gwinnett County lies in northeastern Metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the most rapidly developing coun- ties in the United States. The population of Gwinnett County grew by more than 250 percent from 1980 to 2000, and the 2001 population is estimated at 621,500 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2002). Land use in the county is broadly mixed, with residential being the largest. Urban development is most dense in the south- Agriculture Transportation 1 percent 9 percent .Commercial, industrial, and utilities western portion of the county and along Streams southeast of the divide flow to 10 percent major transportation corridors. Agricul- the Atlantic Ocean, draining 74 percent High- turalland use, which now accounts for of the county. Streams northwest of the density I residential onlyabout 1 percent of the county, peaked divide flow to the Gulf of Mexico, 4 percent around 1920. However, stream channels draining 26 percent of the county. The and floodplains may still have larg~ SUf- Chattahoochee River is the principal pluses of sediment resulting from poor water supply for Metropolitan Atlanta agricultural soil conservation practices and forms the 25-rnile northwt;:stern Numbers have been rounded of that period (Trimble, 1969). boundary of the county. Buford Dam impounds Lake Sidney Lanier at the Gwinnett County land use in 1998 The major hydrologic feature of Gwinnett extreme northern boundary of the county. (Gwinnett County Deportment of Public Utilities. 2000). County is the Eastern Continental Divide. U.S. Department of the Interior u.s. GeologicalSurvey Water-Resources Investigations Report 02-4281 U.S. Geological Survey December2002 "Stream-corridor land use Streams are particularly sensitive to land use in and near their floodplains. When protected from development, these stream corridors may filter out and substantially reduce pollutants entering streams. The Gwinnett County Stormwater Design Manual (1999) provides incentives to preserve additional stream-buffer areas beyond the 25-foot requirement of Georgia law. Stream monitoring designed and installed during 1996 as Baseflow samples are collected using Monitoring streams is critical to water- a cooperative investigation of the U.S. depth and width integrating techniques. shed assessmentand informed manage- Geological Survey and the Gwinnett Quality-assurance/quality-control mea- ment. Long- County Department of Public Utilities. sures ensure that sampled data are not term monitor- Stream gages in six watersheds continu- contaminated by outside sources and are ing using ously monitor water level, streamflow, representative of the entire stream cross consistent and precipitation, and periodically collect section. All stormflow and baseflow methods is water-quality samples, At each stream water-quality samples are processed essential to gage, three storm-composite samples and and analyzed at USGS laboratories. compare three baseftow samples are collected conditions every 6 months. In baseftow conditions, between streamflow is from ground water that watersheds seeps through the channel bed and banks. and to Discharge measurements also are routinely identify made to define stage-discharge relations. trends. The Aquatic invertebrate sampling and habitat watershed- assessmentswere conducted in four water- monitoring sheds. This report includes data collected Stream-monitoring station network for through September 200 I. During 2002, at Crooked Creek. Gwinnett monitoring began at six additional County was watersheds in Gwinnett County. Monitoring stations for the six monitored watersheds JANUARY 2001 USGS Gwinnett Area, in station County Monitoring-station name square Assessmentof nonpoint-source pollution number site number miles requires water-quality sampling during rainfall runoff Stormwater samples are 02207120 GWLT-O2 Yellow River at SR 124 near Lithonia, Ga. 162 02207385 GWLT-O4 Big Haynes Creek at Lenora Road near Snellville, Ga. 17.3 collected with automatic samplers to 02207400 GWLT-OS Brushy Fork Creek at Beaver Road near Loganville, Ga 8.15 obtain a discharge-weighted composite 02208150 GWLT-O7 Alcovy River at New Hope Road near Grayson, Ga. 30.8 sample of the storm runoff 02334885 GWLT-12 Suwanee Creek at Buford Highway near Suwanee, Ga. 47 02335350 GWLT-O1 Crooked Creek at Spalding Drive near Norcross, Ga. 8.89 Properties analyzed During sample collection, standard field properties are measured including pH, specific conductance, water temperature, and dissolved oxygen. Water samples are analyzed for the following constituents: biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspendedsolids, turbidity, total dissolved solids, total phosphorus, dissolved phosphorus, several nitrogen species, and hardness. Trace metals analyzed include cadmium, copper, lead, zinc, chromium, Crooked Creek during baseflow. Crooked Creek during stonnflow. and magnesium. A closer look at land use and hydrology, Yellow River watershed 84 The Yellow River watershed is the largest (162 square miles) in the county and lies in the Ocmulgee River watershed. It is situated in the more densely developed, southwestern part of the county. Land use (in 1998) is shown for the portion (97 percent) of the watershed located within Gwinnett County. The predominate land use (42 percent) is low-to-medium density residential. Commercial and industrial de- velopment are concentrated along the major transportation corridors. Four wastewater- treatment facilities discharge into the water- shed upstream from the monitoring station. Numbers have been rounded. Areas less than 1 percent not shown Yellow River watershed land use in 1998. Continuously monitored streamflow can be divided into components of stormflow and baseflow using hydrograph separation tech- niques (Sloto and Crouse, 1996). Stormflow is the rainfall runoff that enters the drainage network from overland flow. As a percent O 1 2 3 4 5 MILES of total flow, stormflow is greatest during IIi IIi III II wet months and years. Baseflow enters the 0 1 2 3 4 5 KILOMETERS drainage network through the streambed and banks and is more stable. (/) w I (,) ~ ~ c5 --1 w >= act Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept 1998 1999 2000 2001 1998- 2001 The seasonal nature of streamflow is evident in the monthly mean water yield. Water yield is the total volume of streamflow during a month or year divided by watershed area. The average yield for the wettest month (March) is more than three times greater than that of the driest month (October). Annual variability is evident in the annual mean flow and yield. The 1998 average flow was at least twice the flow of the drought years 1999-2001. For the period 1998-2001 in the Yellow River watershed, the average total water yield was 23.7 inches, which is 52 percent of the average precipitation. Streamflow concentrations and watershed Concentration and discharge Annual yield and load A. Totalsuspended solids A.Total suspended solids loads and yields. Yellow River watershed 5,000 260,000 Streamflow samples are analyzed to deter- 4,000 1195,000 mine constituent concentrations. These data 3,000 define whether the stream quality is adequate 130,000 a: 2,000 w for uses such as recreation, for drinking- 1- 16,500 :J 1,000 water supply, for fishing, and as a habitat a: w ~ 0 for aquatic organisms. However, one must Do (I) ~ 700 B. Totaldissolved solids know more than the condition of a stream in ~ a: < ~ 600 < order to mitigate pollution and manage the a: I W ~ w 500 >- :J a: a: resource. Is the pollution from point sources -J U 400 « 18,000 ~ or nonpoint sources?When and how are con- ~ a: 300 ~ 00 stituents transported? An intensive monitor- ~ 200 I Z Z (/) 100 ~ O o ing program, such as the one for Gwinnett z 0 ~ ~ County, can address these questions. a: 5 c. Totalnitrogen 0 1- Z a. 25 .300 ~ W z -J () --20 Z o , 1- O Z () m 15 w I:;) >= 1- 1- 10 i= z 00 ~ 5 Z 0 1- () i= 0 (/) ~ 16 D. Totalleed 8 -a: z w U O 1- 12 ~6:J <a:a: a:uw 8 Collecting a stream sample at baseflow. I--ll. ~~cn uz~ 4 z-< Constituent load, shown to the right in O a: U CD 0 units of tons per year, is the product of 19981999200020011998- concentration and discharge. Constituent 2001 yield, shown in units of pounds per acre z ffi 00 10,000 Oa.a: per year, is the load divided by the water- -w a:'<001- ~ ~ 1,000 shed area. Loads are computed using a 1- -J Z -J ... w ~ 100 .. relatively simple rating-curve model . o k:-!7 .. (Crawford, 1996). The model is cali- ~ ~o 10 brated and run using a stormflow load-to- 100 1,000 discharge curve, and a baseflow load-to- DISCHARGE,INCUBIC FEET PER SECOND discharge curve, and applied to the daily A. Excessive total suspended solids are a major cause of habitat degradation in time-step hydrograph for the Yellow River. north Georgia streams. Stormflow and baseflow have dissimilar total-suspended-solid The results, summarized in the graphs to characteristics; 99 percent of the annual load is carried by stormjlow. B. Total dissolved the right, illustrate several important points. solids are naturally higher in baseflow, which has filtered through the ground. The total .Water quality typically is worse during dissolved solids-to-discharge curve is similar for baseflow and stormflow.
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