USGS - science for a changing world

South Atlantic Water Science Center - North Carolina Office

South Atlantic WSC Home Data Projects Publications Drought Floods Media About Us Contact [an error occurred while processing this directive]   Internal

Picture of the main North Carolina Water Science Center office.

PUBLICATIONS

Annual Water Data Report

USGS Publications Warehouse

USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

There is a USGS Water Science Center office in each State. Washington Oregon California Idaho Nevada Montana Wyoming Utah Colorado Arizona New Mexico North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas Oklahoma Texas Minnesota Iowa Missouri Arkansas Louisiana Wisconsin Illinois Mississippi Michigan Indiana Ohio Kentucky Tennessee Alabama Pennsylvania West Virginia Georgia Florida Caribbean Alaska Hawaii New York Vermont New Hampshire Maine Massachusetts South Carolina North Carolina Rhode Island Virginia Connecticut New Jersey Maryland-Delaware-D.C.

Water-Quality Assessment of the Albemarle-Pamlico Drainage Basin, North Carolina and Virginia--Environmental Setting and Water-Quality Issues

Open-File Report 95-136
By Gerard McMahon and Orville B. Lloyd, Jr.

Full Report (PDF, 80 pages, 24 Mb)


Abstract

The Albemarle-Pamlico drainage study unit is one of 60 units of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program, and includes the large river basins which drain into the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds-the Chowan, Roanoke, Tar-Pamlico, and Neuse River Basins. The study unit includes about 28,000 square miles and has an interrelated set of environmental characteristics which strongly influence water quality. The chemical and physical nature of these characteristics are the dominant controls on baseline water quality in the study area. About 50 percent of the study area is forested, slightly more than 30 percent is agricultural, about 15 percent is wetlands, and less than 5 percent is developed. Three million people live in the study area, and activities related to agriculture and development have caused increased concentrations of constituents such as nutrients, pesticides, and suspended sediment. About two-thirds of the 36 to 52 inches of precipitation in the area reenters the atmosphere by evapotranspiration. About one-third of the remaining precipitation reaches streams by overland runoff; the remainder recharges the water table aquifer, where much of the water eventually discharges to streams as ground water. Thus, ground-water quality has a substantial influence on surface-water quality, particularly during dry weather. In 1990, about 152,900 tons of elemental nitrogen and 10,500 tons of elemental phosphorus either were applied to crops as fertilizer or fixed by biological processes, and in 1987, about 43,500 tons of nitrogen and 12,200 tons of phosphorus were produced as animal wastes. In addition, about 1,300 tons of selected herbicides and 400 tons of selected insecticides were applied to crops in 1990. Some 249 permitted point sources discharged 410 million gallons per day, containing an annual load of 5,800 tons of nitrogen and 1,800 tons of phosphorus, to the study area in 1990. Data from 1970-79 indicate that mean annual suspended-sediment yields for selected forested, agricultural, and developed urban basins in North Carolina are 50, 250, and 550 tons per square mile, respectively. In order to facilitate comparisons, much of the data were compiled by hydrologic unit. Homogeneous areas, or strata, representing the most prevalent combinations of environmental factors, such as land use, soils, and geology, were defined. Future data collection and analyses will be designed to answer objective-related concerns about the relations between important water-quality conditions and these study-unit strata.


Citation:

McMahon, Gerard, and Lloyd, O.B., Jr., 1995, Water-quality assessment of the Albemarle-Pamlico drainage basin, North Carolina and Virginia--Environmental setting and water-quality issues: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 95-136, 72 p.


For more information, contact
North Carolina Water Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
3916 Sunset Ridge Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27607
(919) 571-4000
E-mail

USGS Home Water Climate Change Core Science Ecosystems Energy and Minerals Env. Health Hazards

Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America logo USA.gov logo U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: https://nc.water.usgs.gov/reports/abstracts/ofr95136.html
Page Contact Information: North Carolina Web Development Team
Page Last Modified: Tuesday, 06-Dec-2016 10:43:25 EST