Water-quality assessment of the Albemarle-Pamlico drainage basin, North Carolina and Virginia environmental setting and water-quality issues

Abstract

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 60 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 settings. More than two-thirds of the Nation's freshwater use occurs within the 60 study units and more than two-thirds of the people served by public water-supply systems live within their boundaries. National synthesis of data analysis, based on aggregation of comparable information obtained from the study units, is a major component of the program. This effort focuses on selected water-quality topics using nationally consistent information. Comparative studies will explain differences and similarities in observed water-quality conditions among study areas and will identify changes and trends and their causes. The first topics addressed by the national synthesis are pesticides, nutrients, volatile organic compounds, and aquatic biology. Discussions on these and other waterquality topics will be published in periodic summaries of the quality of the Nation's ground and surface water as the information becomes available. This report is an element of the comprehensive body of information developed as part of the NAWQA Program. The program depends heavily on the advice, cooperation, and information from many Federal, State, interstate, Tribal, and local agencies and the public. The assistance and suggestions of all are greatly appreciated.

Water quality in the Albemarle-Pamlico drainage basin, North Carolina and Virginia, 1992-95

“…Average annual precipitation ranges from 36 inches in the western part of the Albemarle-Pamlico Drainage Basin to 52 inches in the eastern part of the basin (McMahon and Lloyd, 1995). This water leaves the basin by way of streams and ground water.…”

“…Average water use during 1990 in the Albemarle-Pamlico Drainage Basin was about 2,800 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) (McMahon and Lloyd, 1995). Most of this water is from surface water (90 percent) with the remaining 10 percent supplied from ground water ( fig.…”

Representation of regional urban development conditions using a watershed-based gradient study design

“…1). Soils vary from fine to moderately fine textures in the coastal plain and piedmont areas (McMahon and Lloyd, 1995). The climate is warm and humid with rainfall evenly distributed throughout the year.…”

Nutrients, Select Pesticides, and Suspended Sediment in the Karst Terrane of the Sinking Creek Basin, Kentucky, 2004-06

“…The estimated input from wastewater discharge was 1,500 lb/yr for nitrogen (table 6). The error in this estimate is unknown, because it is based on a set of data outside the study area and because the variability around this relation is not shown in McMahon and Lloyd (1995). Estimated inputs from wastewater discharge for total phosphorus were not available.…”