THE LITTLE TALLAPOOSA RIVER AND THE DROUGHT OF 1999-2000: MODIFICATION OF WATER QUALITY PARAMETERS

The Little Tallapoosa River originates in the Piedmont of northeast Carroll County, Georgia and flows west and southwest across the county into Alabama. From the river’s head to the Alabama-Georgia line the Little Tallapoosa River is used as a drinking water supply by two cities, receives treated sewage and passes through a variety of land usage. Extensive cattle farms in the Little Tallapoosa watershed enable Carroll County to be the second largest beef producer in Georgia. The Georgia Environmental Protection Division lists western section of the river in Carroll County as partially supporting its designated usage because of fecal coliform. This study of the Little Tallapoosa River is part of the West Georgia Watershed Assessment. Parameters measured in this study are temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity, turbidity, TSS, BOD, COD, total phosphorous, ammonia-N, TKN, nitrate-nitrite-N, fecal coliform, hardness, and total Cd, Pb, Zn, and Cu. Field checks and satellite images are used to assist in determination of land usage in the watershed. Field checks during the summer and fall of 2000 indicated that first its tributaries and then the river were transformed from free flowing into a series of stagnate pools by proliferation of beaver dams. Water quality changes associated with this were lower DO, higher TDS, and transformation from semi-clear water to brown-colored turbid water.