science
and policy research
Etowah Basin Water Quality Database
Report on the Creation of the Etowah
Basin Water Quality Database
Introduction
 The
Etowah River watershed is located northeast of Atlanta, GA. The Upper
Etowah watershed encompasses parts of eight counties: Bartow, Cobb,
Cherokee, Dawson, Forsyth, Fulton, Lumpkin, and Pickens. These counties
are some of the fastest growing counties in the nation (US Census Bureau,
2002). The increased development pressure threatens the water quality
of the area. In 2002, 22 streams in the watershed and all of Lake Allatoona
were listed as impaired waters (GA EPD, 2002).
The Etowah River is home to one of
the most diverse aquatic communities on the planet. The fish community
of the Etowah has a high level of endemism, having fish found nowhere
else. Burkhead et al. (1997) believe that the Etowah was once a
center for biological diversity in the Mobile River drainage. However,
many native species have been extirpated or are currently threatened
or endangered. The threats to the aquatic fauna of the Etowah include
habitat fragmentation, increasing pollutant loads, and urbanization
(Burkhead et al., 1997).
The increasing pressures on the Etowah have driven the need for management of aquatic resources. Our goal for creating this database was to provide easy access to water quality monitoring data in the Etowah River watershed.
We also wanted to use the completed database to identify gaps in information
for the Etowah. This report describes the creation of the database,
identification of data needs, and recommendations based on the database.
Methods
 The Water Resources Database (WRDB) was developed
by Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD). The WRDB can handle
large data sets and is user-friendly. Data can be imported into the
WRDB from a variety of software formats; this flexibility is needed
when compiling data from many sources. Also, data within the WRDB are
password protected so the data can be made available to the public while
maintaining quality control.
We contacted agencies and organizations collecting water
quality data in the Upper Etowah to solicit data for inclusion in the
regional database. We also conducted literature searches for any existing
data. All data were converted to the format needed for submission into
WRDB and entered into the database.
Results
Data sources covered the entire watershed and included
federal, state and local organizations (Table 1). We did not include
data that did not have strict quality control/quality assurance controls
in place.
Table 1. Source of
water quality data imported into the Water Resources Database for the
Upper Etowah River watershed.
|
Sources of Water Quality Data
|
| USGS |
Georgia EPD |
| US EPA |
Bartow County |
| City of Cartersville |
Cherokee County |
| Cobb County Water & Sewer |
Cobb County Stream Monitoring Program |
| Forsyth County |
Watershed Assessments |
| UGA Research |
Etowah River Water & Sewer |
| Clean Lakes Study |
Lumpkin County |
| Pickens County |
|
More information is available for the downstream counties
in the watershed. These counties have larger populations, more water
quality problems, and more resources which is reflected in more comprehensive
data collection efforts. Information for flow, biological data, long-term
datasets, and wet-weather samples are limited for the entire watershed.
Summary
Many organizations are collecting water quality
data in the Etowah River watershed; these groups can benefit from access
to other data sources. We hope this database will be a beginning for
easy access to water quality information in the Etowah. This database
provides a repository for the entire watershed and a uniform reporting
format. The database is by no means complete and will be updated from
time to time.
 More
information is needed in the rural and upstream areas of the watershed.
Flow data, which is vital for understanding nutrient loadings, is needed
for most of the watershed. Very few active gages are currently monitoring
flow. Other data needs include biological data and stormwater samples.
Also, most data are very short-term and do not allow for long-term trend
monitoring. Future monitoring efforts can help fill in the gaps in water
quality information we found while compiling the data.
Acknowledgments
This project was supported by the United States
Army Corps of Engineers, A.L. Burruss Institute of Public Service, and
the University of Georgia. Many thanks to Dr. Elizabeth Booth and Craig
Hesterlee for the WRDB.
Literature Cited
Burkhead, N. M., S. J. Walsh, B. J. Freeman, and
J. D. Williams. 1997. Status and restoration of the Etowah River, an
imperiled Southern Appalachian ecosystem. In: Aquatic fauna in peril:
the Southeastern perspective. G. W. Benz and D. E. Collins, eds. Special
Publication I, Southeast Aquatic Research Institute, Decatur, GA.
Georgia Environmental Protection Division. 2002. Water
quality in Georgia 2000-2001. http://www.state.ga.us/dnr/environ/
United States Census Bureau. 2002. Most of Nation's
10 Fastest-Growing Counties in South, Census Bureau Reports http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/cb02-59.html
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