Preimpoundment Water Quality Study
Abstract
This document presents results of the Jan. through Aug. 1981 preimpoundment water quality study. The study area includes a 48-kilometer stretch of the Savannah River and its tributaries in Georgia and South Carolina between Hartwell Dam and the Richard B. Russell Dam site near Calhoun Falls, S. C. Sampling for meteorological, hydrological, water and sediment quality, fish and invertebrate tissue contamination, and an inventory of the existing benthos and periphyton was conducted at 12 stations. Study results show that the water quality of the Savannah River and its tributaries within the study area is generally good. Concentrations of pesticides and PCBs in the sediments below the detection levels in both February and July and metal concentrations in the sediments were not indicative of serious levels of contamination. Diatoms accounted for the greatest percentage of all periphytic algal divisions present with most of the species characteristic of circumneutral-to-acidic water of low mineral content. Nineteen of the 73 diatom taxa found during this study are associated with eutrophication in lakes throughout the southeastern U.S. Diversity and biomass values generally were lower in the Savannah River than in the tributaries. Tissue results for metals, pesticides, and PCBs indicate elevated levels of PCB-Aroclor 1254 and metabolites of DDT in the Savannah River with the probable source upstream of the study area.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 1981
- Accession Number
- ADA162284
Entities
People
- Richard B. Russell