Surface water-quality assessment of the Kentucky River Basin, Kentucky: Projection description

Book · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1987

OSTI ID:6673041

White, K D; Smoot, J L; Jackson, J K; Choquette, A F

The Kentucky River basin drains an area of approximately 7,000 sq mi in east central Kentucky and is underlain by rocks that range in composition from limestone to sandstone and shale. Land use practices that affect the surface water quality in the basin include agriculture, forestry, oil and gas production, coal mining, and urbanization. Water quality concerns resulting from the various land uses include the effects of: oil and gas field brine discharges; agricultural chemicals; sedimentation caused by coal mining; and trace element impacts from industrial and urban environments. Assessment activity is designed to occur over a 9-year period of time. During the first 3-year period of the cycle, concentrated data acquisition and interpretation will occur. For the next 6 years, sample collection will occur at a much lower level of intensity to document the occurrence of any gross changes in water quality. This 9-year cycle will then be repeated. Historical data will be evaluated to provide, to the extent possible, a description of existing and past trends in water quality conditions and to develop conceptual models that relate the observed conditions to the sources and causes, both natural and human-controlled. New data will be collected to verify the water quality conditions documented by historic data, to track long-term trends in water quality, to intensify temporal and spatial sampling densities, and to improve the understanding of the relations between water quality conditions and causative factors. 28 refs., 11 figs., 4 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 6673041
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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02 PETROLEUM
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03 NATURAL GAS
030800 -- Natural Gas-- Environmental Aspects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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AGRICULTURE
COAL MINING
DATA ACQUISITION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FEDERAL REGION IV
FORESTRY
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INDUSTRY
KENTUCKY
LAND USE
LIQUID WASTES
MANAGEMENT
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MINING
MONITORING
NATURAL GAS WELLS
NORTH AMERICA
OIL WELLS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
POLLUTION
POLLUTION SOURCES
RIVERS
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
USA
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE WATER
WASTES
WATER
WATER POLLUTION
WELLS