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Water-quality characteristics of inflow to and outflow from B. Everett Jordan Lake, North Carolina, 1982-86

Water-Resources Investigations Report 90-4096
By R.G. Garrett

Abstract

B. Everett Jordan Lake, a 13,900-acre reservoir in the north-central Piedmont of North Carolina, was completed in February 1982. Hydrologic data were collected at four inflow sites and one outflow site to define water-quality characteristics. Data include streamflow data and 56 physical and chemical characteristics of streamwater. Concentrations of some constituents at inflow sites were as much as 83-times greater than background concentrations in streams relatively unaffected by man. At the outflow site, however, some of these constituents were only as much as 6-times greater. The minimum dissolved-oxygen concentration measured at an inflow site was 1.0 mg/L, whereas the minimum concentration measured at the outflow site was 4.9 mg/L. Significant differences in other physical characteristics between inflow and outflow sites include a reduction in maximum concentration of suspended sediment from 2,360 mg/L in an inflow sample to 130 mg/L at the outflow site and a reduction of maximum specific conductance values from more than 1,100 microsiemens/centimeter in an inflow sample to 301 microsiemens/centimeter in outflow. The maximum concentration of total nitrogen at inflow sites was 27.0 mg/L compared with 3.2 mg/L at the outflow site. The maximum total phosphorus concentration at inflow sites was 13.0 mg/L compared with 0.6 mg/L at the outflow site. Average annual loads of total nitrogen and total phosphorus in the outflow were as much as 67% and 40% of inflow loads, respectively. Maximum yields at an inflow site were 5.8 t/sq mi (tons per square mile) for nitrogen and 1.4 t/sq mi for phosphorus. Yields of these constituents at the outflow site were 1.5 and 0.2 t/mi, respectively.

Garrett, R.G., 1990, Water-quality characteristics of inflow to and outflow from B. Everett Jordan Lake, North Carolina, 1982-86: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 90-4096, 49 p.