A STUDY OF BASELINE WATER QUALITY AND CONTROLLING FACTORS OF THE BOILS SPRING ON SCENIC ROARING RIVER, JACKSON COUNTY TENNESSEE

The purpose of this research is to investigate the baseline water quality of the Boils Spring along the Roaring River in Jackson Country Tennessee, and the controlling factors. This region is a fluvio-karst with conduit flow of water traveling quickly to the Boils by sinking kilometers away and therefore poses concern for water quality. The major landuse are rural settlement, forest, and minor agriculture. Temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and major ions of water discharging from the Boils were measured before, during, and after rainfall. Rainfall data for the study area were downloaded from NOAA. The data and results can be used to help evaluate any future water quality concerns in this area and to better understand controlling factors of water quality in regions with karst aquifers. The preliminary results show that alkalinity decreases relatively long time whereas EC, pH, temperature and the other major ions decrease relatively short. Thus, this study’s results have implication for monitoring arrival of storm runoff during rainfall. A better understanding of water quality evolution can be useful to monitor the arrival of storm runoff rather than relying solely on temporal variation of a few selected field physicochemical parameters.