THE AFFECT OF THE 2007 DROUGHT ON A SMALL DRINKING WATER STREAM IN WEST GEORGIA: WATER QUALITY AND QUANTITY OF CENTRALHATCHEE CREEK, HEARD COUNTY, GEORGIA

A dramatic decrease in rainfall in Georgia in 2007 caused a record drought. Two drinking water streams in rural Heard County (2006 population of 11,472) in northwest Georgia had low flow conditions in 2007. Heard County was cited in the Atlanta news when its two drinking water resources, Centralhatchee and Hillabahatchee Creeks were so low that the water authority was required to install pumps in a quarry to augment the drinking water supply. Heard County also resorted to purchasing water from Carroll County. Our research focuses on the water quality and quantity in Centralhatchee Creek and its drainage area of 56.7 square miles. Centralhatchee Creek heads in the Piedmont of northwest rural Heard County, flows through forest and farmland where it flows across the Brevard Fault, and feeds into the Chattahoochee River just north of Franklin, Georgia. There was a USGS field station along Centralhatchee Creek that measures flow near the Heard County Water Authority intake near where it empties into the Chattahoochee River. Data from 3 sites on the Centralhatchee Creek from the 2001 West Georgia Watershed Assessment yields fecal coliform bacteria ranges from 2 to 1,200 col./100ml with geometric means from 51-56 col./100ml. Nitrite-Nitrate-N values from this study are generally low with a maximum value below 0.6 mg/L. Our research will be the first major water quality study on the stream since 2001. It includes measurement of flow, field parameters (DO, pH, turbidity, water temperature, and specific conductivity) and lab analysis of fecal coliform bacteria, E.coli, and nutrients (nitrite-nitrate-N, ammonia-N, and total phosphorous). Our data will be compared with the data from the 2001 West Georgia Watershed Assessment and the USGS field station data, which was collected up to 2001, on Centralhatchee Creek.