Effects of agriculture, housing development, and industry on water quality in a small drainage basin, Bushkill Creek, Pennsylvania
- Lafayette College, Easton, PA (United States). Geology Dept.
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst., Blacksburg, VA (United States). Dept. of Environmental Science and Engineering
- TRC Environmental, Windsor, CT (United States)
- Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY (United States). Dept. of Environmental Chemistry
Beginning in 1989, three successive studies have focused on the effects of various land use activities on water quality in the Bushkill Creek. Bushkill Creek is located in Northampton County, Pennsylvania and is a tributary to the Delaware River. Bushkill Creek has a drainage area of 206 km[sup 2]. The watershed is underlain by slate and shale units of the Martinsburg Formation and Ordovician carbonate rocks including the Jacksonburg Formation, the Beeckmantown Group, and the Allentown Formations. The authors have been collecting water quality data in the Bushkill Creek drainage basin over a three-year period (1989--1992) in order to determine the general quality of the water and to assess the impact of various land use and industrial activities on water quality. The authors' initial investigation focused on the impact of several potential point sources of contamination in the lower, more heavily industrialized, portion of the Bushkill Creek. Water samples were analyzed for ammonia, chromium (at one site only), nitrate, nitrite, orthophosphate, sulfate, and gasoline (at one site only). The results of that research indicated that background concentrations of nitrates and sulfates were quite high. Therefore, subsequent investigations have focused on the potential impact of agricultural activity and housing development in the upper portion of the Bushkill drainage basin. In particular: (1) petroleum contamination was occurring as a point source in the lower Bushkill drainage, (2) nitrate concentrations in the creek have increased during the past twenty years, most likely as the result of agricultural activity and housing development, (3) sulfate loading into the Bushkill Creek occurs from the Little Bushkill Creek, and (4) the high sulfate concentration in the Little Bushkill Creek originates in the vicinity of a slate quarry.
- OSTI ID:
- 5776110
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9303211-; CODEN: GAAPBC
- Journal Information:
- Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs; (United States), Vol. 25:2; Conference: 28. annual Geological Society of America (GSA) Northeastern Section meeting, Burlington, VT (United States), 22-24 Mar 1993; ISSN 0016-7592
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
PENNSYLVANIA
RIVERS
POLLUTION SOURCES
WATER QUALITY
AGRICULTURE
CHEMICAL COMPOSITION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
HYDROCARBONS
INDUSTRY
LAND USE
NITRATES
SULFATES
WATER CHEMISTRY
WATER POLLUTION
CHEMISTRY
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NORTH AMERICA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
STREAMS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
540320* - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)