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This effort focuses on selected water- quality topics using nationally consistent information. Compara- The mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is to tive studies will explain differences and similarities in observed assess the quantity and quality of the earth resources of the water-quality conditions among study areas and will identify Nation and to provide information that will assist resource man- changes and trends and their causes. The first topics addressed by agers and policy makers at Federal, State, and local levels in the national synthesis are pesticides, nutrients, volatile organic making sound decisions. Assessment of water-quality conditions compounds, and aquatic biology. Discussions on these and other and trends is an important part of this overall mission. water-quality topics will be published in periodic summaries of One of the greatest challenges faced by water-resources sci- the quality of the Nation’s ground and surface water as the infor- entists is acquiring reliable information that will guide the use mation becomes available. and protection of the Nation’s water resources. That challenge is This report is an element of the comprehensive body of being addressed by Federal, State, interstate, and local water- information developed as part of the NAWQA Program. The pro- resource agencies and by many academic institutions. These gram depends heavily on the advice, cooperation, and informa- organizations are collecting water-quality data for a host of pur- tion from many Federal, State, interstate, Tribal, and local poses that include: compliance with permits and water-supply agencies and the public. The assistance and suggestions of all are standards; development of remediation plans for a specific con- greatly appreciated. tamination problem; operational decisions on industrial, waste- water, or water-supply facilities; and research on factors that Robert M. Hirsch affect water quality. An additional need for water-quality infor- Chief Hydrologist mation is to provide a basis on which regional and national-level policy decisions can be based. Wise decisions must be based on sound information. As a society we need to know whether certain types of water-quality problems are isolated or ubiquitous, whether there are significant differences in conditions among regions, whether the conditions are changing over time, and why these conditions change from place to place and over time. The information can be used to help determine the efficacy of existing water-quality policies and to help analysts determine the need for and likely consequences of new policies. To address these needs, the Congress appropriated funds in 1986 for the USGS to begin a pilot program in seven project areas to develop and refine the National Water-Quality Assess- ment (NAWQA) Program. In 1991, the USGS began full imple- mentation of the program. The NAWQA Program builds upon an existing base of water-quality studies of the USGS, as well as those of other Federal, State, and local agencies. The objectives of the NAWQA Program are to: • Describe current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation’s freshwater streams, rivers, and aquifers. • Describe how water quality is changing over time. • Improve understanding of the primary natural and human factors that affect water-quality conditions. This information will help support the development and evaluation of management, regulatory, and monitoring decisions by other Federal, State, and local agencies to protect, use, and enhance water resources. The goals of the NAWQA Program are being achieved through ongoing and proposed investigations of 59 of the Nation’s most important river basins and aquifer systems, which are referred to as study units. These study units are distributed throughout the Nation and cover a diversity of hydrogeologic set- tings. More than two-thirds of the Nation’s freshwater use occurs within the 59 study units and more than two-thirds of the people served by public water-supply systems live within their bound- aries. National synthesis of data analysis, based on aggregation of comparable information obtained from the study units, is a major iv v &RQWHQWV Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................................1 Purpose and scope ................................................................................................................................................3 Previous investigations.........................................................................................................................................3 Description of study area......................................................................................................................................4 Climate..........................................................................................................................................................4 Hydrogeologic setting...................................................................................................................................4 Land use and land cover................................................................................................................................6 Population and water use ..............................................................................................................................6 Methods of investigation......................................................................................................................................6 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................................................8 Sediment Characteristics................................................................................................................................................8 Ground-Water Quality.....................................................................................................................................................9 Physical and chemical properties .........................................................................................................................9 Ions and trace metals............................................................................................................................................9 Nutrients and organic carbon .............................................................................................................................11 Nitrogen isotope ratios .......................................................................................................................................15 Pesticides............................................................................................................................................................15 Volatile organic compounds ...............................................................................................................................16 Tritium................................................................................................................................................................18 Summary ......................................................................................................................................................................21 References.....................................................................................................................................................................22 Supplemental information.............................................................................................................................................25