Because there already was an extensive monitoring network in the basin, supported by State and Federal agencies, the NAWQA study design focused on three integrator sites located on mainstem rivers; two on the Chattahoochee River upstream and downstream of Metropolitan Atlanta, and one on the Apalachicola River near the mouth. The first two sites were selected to provide an estimate of total load of selected constituents in the Chattahoochee River upstream and downstream of a major source of point and nonpoint inputs to the river. Extensive monitoring of many point-source discharges to the river and tributaries provide data to estimate point-source loads of selected constituents and, by difference, estimate nonpoint-source loads from tributaries draining Metropolitan Atlanta. The site near the mouth of the Apalachicola River was selected to provide an estimate of total load of selected constituents entering Apalachicola Bay. These data are valuable for comparing current and historical water-quality conditions, for documenting current water-quality conditions, and for analysis of long-term trends in the future.
Text extracted from Wangsness, 1996
Surface Water data-collection site maps
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