USGS - science for a changing world

South Atlantic Water Science Center

The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program

ACF Study Design: Surface Water

The surface-water system of the ACF River basin was stratified based on physiography and major land uses. Water-quality monitoring locations were then chosen to represent predominant land uses at various scales. The monitoring network reflects the nested study design described earlier, starting with a few fixed monitoring sites (integrator sites and indicator sites, a subset of which were intensive monitoring sites), adding a group of comparison sites, and finally a group of sampling sites on large tributaries and main-stem rivers. Water samples were collected at frequencies varying from hourly to annually, depending on the intended purpose. The different monitoring sites, sample types, and sample frequencies are described in the following sections. Site numbers assigned to each location are provided as a cross-reference to the locator maps.

 View maps of data-collection sites