UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH IN WATERSHED ASSESSMENT IN WEST GEORGIA: PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF SMALL (CENTRAL CAMPUS BRANCH), MEDIUM (LITTLE TALLAPOOSA RIVER) AND LARGE (CHATTAHOOCHEE RIVER) WATERSHEDS

The University of West Georgia has developed a Water Research Station on 50 acres of land that is bordered by the Little Tallapoosa River. The station contains a weir on Central Campus Branch, sampling dock over the river, numerous shallow groundwater wells, and three deep bedrock wells. One of the bedrock wells is the source of irrigation water for campus practice fields and flowers. State of the art field and laboratory equipment has been purchased with funds generated by the Center for Water Resources water quality monitoring projects. Students use this equipment to measure 21 physical and chemical water quality parameters. Located on campus, the Water Research Station allows for year round sampling, 24-hour pump tests, and frequent sample collection intervals. Student research projects are designed to train students in field and laboratory methods and produce unique valid results that students present at state, regional, or national meetings (see Blaise, 2006 – this issue). In addition to typical watershed assessments student projects have included metal analysis in crawfish, mercury in fish, lead in drinking water and paint, sampling runoff from parking lots, arsenic in soil below a deck, and 12-hour interval sampling during hurricanes.

Further a field across Carroll County student research projects since 1988 have been centered on the Little Tallapoosa River and its tributaries. The Little Tallapoosa River heads in the city of Villa Rica, then flows across rural Georgia to Carrollton where the city of Carrollton obtains its drinking water supply. Downstream of Carrollton the river flows through forest and agricultural lands with cattle pastures and chicken houses. The cattle and poultry industry in Carroll County in 2004 were $19.7M and $120M, respectively. Student water quality stations are located at many bridges along the river and its tributaries.

The southeastern boundary of Carroll County is formed by the Chattahoochee River. The Chattahoochee River heads in the mountains of north Georgia then flows through metro Atlanta before reaching Carroll County. Students sample near the USGS monthly water quality station on the Chattahoochee near Whitesburg in Carroll County. Additional student projects have sampled the Chattahoochee River from its headwaters to West Point Lake on the Alabama-Georgia border.