Correlations between basin development parameters and water-quality characteristics of the Cape Fear River at Lock 1 near Kelly, North Carolina
Water-Supply Paper 2310
By J.K. Crawford and D.A. Harned
Abstract
Water-quality data from long-term (24 years), fixed-
station monitoring at the Cape Fear River at Lock 1 near
Kelly, N.C., and various measures of basin development
are correlated. Subbasin population, number of acres of
cropland in the subbasin, number of people employed in
manufacturing, and tons of fertilizer applied in the basin
are considered as measures of basinwide development activity. Linear correlations show statistically significant posi-
tive relations between both population and manufacturing
activity and most of the dissolved constituents considered.
Negative correlations were found between the acres of
harvested cropland and most of the water-quality measures. The amount of fertilizer sold in the subbasin was not
statistically related to the water-quality measures considered in this report. The statistical analysis was limited to
several commonly used measures of water quality including specific conductance, pH, dissolved solids, several major dissolved ions, and a few nutrients. The major dissolved
ions included in the analysis were calcium, sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride, sulfate, silica, bicarbonate, and
fluoride. The nutrients included were dissolved nitrite plus
nitrate nitrogen, dissolved ammonia nitrogen, total nitrogen, dissolved phosphates, and total phosphorus.
For the chemicals evaluated, manufacturing and population sources are more closely associated with water
quality in the Cape Fear River at Lock 1 than are agricultural variables.
Citation:
Crawford, J.K. and Harned, D.A., 1986, Correlations between basin development parameters and water-quality characteristics of the Cape Fear River at Lock 1 near Kelly, North Carolina: in Selected Papers in the Hydrologic Sciences, U.S Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2310, p. 25-33.
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