Project Number: 6602-13000-023-10
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Jul 20, 2007
End Date: May 31, 2011

Objective:
The broad goals of the proposed cooperative research are to: 1) quantify the spatial and temporal distribution and concentration of waterborne pathogens and chemical pollutants potentially affecting human health in agricultural versus urban streams, rivers, and ponds of the Suwannee River basin; and 2) to determine the the roles of in-stream wetlands and associated sediment oxygen demand on low dissolved oxygen in the rivers, streams, and wetlands of the Suwannee River basin.

Approach:
Quantify non-traditional pollutants from nonpoint and point sources such as waterborne pathogens, pharmaceuticals, human and animal hormones, and endocrine disrupters potentially resulting from the spreading of livestock manures and compare with similar contaminant loads from city water treatment plants. This will be accomplished by collecting and analyzing water samples for biological (waterborne pathogens) and /or chemical pollutants (pharmaceuticals, human and animal hormones, and endocrine disrupters) in the Georgia portion of the Suwannee River basin as determined following consultation with ARS partners. Evaluate the applicability of the established DO standard to coastal plain streams ¿ particularly during the extended summer period. The ecological processes governing DO dynamics in coastal plain streams are not well understood. University of Georgia researchers and graduate students have already addressed primary production but additional research is needed to understand the following two processes: Sediment Oxygen Demand (SOD) ¿ also know as benthic oxygen demand and the role of in-stream wetlands and swamps. We will evaluate the importance of these swamps in controlling DO by: Creating a database of SOD measurements in streams, rivers, and swamps of the Suwannee River basin; and by assessing the effect of in-stream wetlands and swamps on dissolved oxygen.