Spatial and Temporal Variation in Water Quality along an Urban Stretch of the Chattahoochee River and Proctor Creek in Atlanta, GA, 2014

Urban development and increased impervious surfaces have contributed to pollution loading in the Chattahoochee River and Proctor Creek, major urban waterways and receiving waters for Atlanta stormwater and wastewater effluent. The purpose of this study was to investigate spatial and temporal variation in E. coli and bacteriophage MS2 and relationships with Dissolved Oxygen, turbidity, rainfall, and riverflow; and to determine if wastewater effluent discharge points in the river influence bacterial levels. During a five-month period, water samples were collected at fifteen sample sites and two outfall sites in the Chattahoochee River, and five Proctor Creek sites. No significant spatial variation in mean E. coli concentration was found for the Chattahoochee and concentrations of bacteria were not significantly different upstream and downstream of wastewater effluent outfalls. However, there was significant temporal variation in mean E. coli concentrations for the Chattahoochee River (p < 0.0001) and Proctor Creek. These findings indicate that E. coli and MS2 are commonly present in the river across wide spatial and time scales, possibly due to nonpoint source pollution.