Albemarle-Pamlico NAWQA

Background

The National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Study is an ongoing program of the U.S. Geological Survey to assess the status and trends of the Nation's streams and ground-water quality and to examine the processes that control water quality.

Objectives

Assessment of the Albemarle-Pamlico study area (ALBE) began in 1991 with an intense 3-year period of surface-water, ground-water, and ecological data collection. Sampling from 1993 to 2001 included sampling of ground-water flow paths and monthly surface-water sampling at two sites selected for long-term trend evaluation. Intensive sampling began again in 2002, with a focus on evaluation of the effects of urban development on ecology and water quality, and a specific study of water-quality in the Castle Hayne aquifer.

Approach

The goals of the NAWQA Program are:

1. Status: Assess the status of water quality
2. Trends: Assess trends in water quality
3. Understanding: Identify the factors that affect water quality.

The elements of the design of the 2001-2010 (Cycle II) sampling and analysis program for the ALBE can, therefore, be categorized under these goals:

Status

• Eight sites were assessed for mercury in water, fish, and sediment (2002).
• Thirty wells in the Castle Hayne aquifer were sampled for nutrients, pesticides, trace elements, and volatile organic compounds (2002-2003).
• A Neuse River water-supply intake is being sampled 1-2 times per month for nutrients, pesticides, volatile organic compounds, and bacteria (2002-04).

Trends

• The Neuse River at Kinston, Contentnea Creek at Hookerton, Swift Creek near Apex, and Van Swamp near Hoke are sampled 1-2 times per month for nutrients, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds. These are long-term stations to show trends in water quality over time (decades).
• Twenty-five wells near Coastal Plain agricultural fields were sampled for nutrients, pesticides, trace elements, and volatile organic compounds (2002). First sampled in 1995, the wells will be resampled in the future to detect long-term trends in ground-water quality.
• Multiple reaches at each of the surface-water trend sites were assessed for fish, aquatic macroinvertibrate populations, and habitat (2002), and single reaches were sampled in 2003. These sites will be resampled in the future to detect long-term trends in stream fish and invertibrate communities.

Understanding

• In order to better understand the effects of urban development on water quality, thirty small basins, representing an urban land-use gradient (ULUG) from undeveloped to fully developed in the Piedmont urban crescent, were selected, instrumented with stage recorders, and assessed for fish, aquatic macroinvertibrate populations, habitat, and water chemistry (2002-2003).
• To better define the spatial distribution of nutrient mass flows, a large-scale model (SPARROW) was developed to predict nitrogen and phosphorus loads in the Tar, Neuse, and Cape Fear Rivers based on basin and nutrient-source characteristics, routing, and nutrient processing . (2002).
• Nutrient movement and tranformation in groundwater has been examined with a series of 15 wells along a flow path located in the Little Contentnea Creek basin.