Water Quality Assessment for Lake Blackshear, Georgia

Proceedings of the 2001 Georgia Water Resources Conference, April 26 and 27, 2001, Athens, Georgia.Lake Blackshear, a man-made impoundment of the Flint River, is used extensively for recreational activities as well as for power generation. The purpose of this study was to monitor water quality in two representative areas of the Lake, Spring Creek and Warren Slough. Samples from seven locations were collected four times each month from December 1999, through December 2000. Samples were monitored for total coliforrns and fecal conforms with the most probable number method and for heterotrophic plate counts with nutrient agar. In situ determinations of temperature, dissolved oxygen, and pH were made respectively with an YSI meter and a pHTestr2. Seasonal variations, high temperatures with low dissolved oxygen during summer months and lower temperatures with higher dissolved oxygen levels in winter months, were observed. The pH remained relatively constant throughout the study period. Spatial and seasonal variations occurred in the bacterial counts but coliform counts generally met Georgia requirements for recreational and fishing waters.Sponsored and Organized by: U.S. Geological Survey, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Natural Resources Conservation Service, The University of Georgia, Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of TechnologyThis book was published by the Institute of Ecology, The University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602-2202. The views and statements advanced in this publication are solely those of the authors and do not represent official views or policies of The University of Georgia, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Georgia Water Research Institute as authorized by the Water Resources Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-397) or the other conference sponsors