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R. A. Miller

Publications and source records attributed to R. A. Miller.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Selected basin characteristics and water-quality data of the Minnesota River basin

Selected basin characteristics and water-quality dam for the Minnesota River Basin are presented in this report as 71 maps, 22 graphs, and 8 tables. The data were compiled as part of a four-year study to identify non-point sources of pollution and the effect of this pollution on water quality. The maps were prepared from geographic information system data bases. Federal, State, and local agencies, and colleges and universities collected and assembled these data as part of the Minnesota River Assessment Project.

Minnesota

Percentage entrainment of constituent loads in urban runoff, south Florida

Runoff quantity and quality data from four urban basins in south Florida were analyzed to determine the entrainment of total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total carbon, chemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, and total lead within the stormwater runoff. Land use of the homogeneously developed basins are residential (single family), highway, commercial, and apartment (multifamily). A computational procedure was used to calculate, for all storms that had water-quality data, the percentage of constituent load entrainment in specified depths of runoff. The plot of percentage of constituent load entrained as a function of runoff is termed the percentage-entrainment curve. Percentage-entrainment curves were developed for three different source areas of basin runoff: (1) the hydraulically effective impervious area, (2) the contributing area, and (3) the drainage area. With basin runoff expressed in inches over the contributing area, the depth of runoff required to remove 90 percent of the constituent load ranged from about 0.4 inch to about 1.4 inches; and to remove 80 percent, from about 0.3 to 0.9 inch. Analysis of variance, using depth of runoff from the contributing area as the response variable, showed that the factor 'basin' is statistically significant, but that the factor 'constituent' is not statistically significant in the forming of the percentage-entrainment curve. Evidently the sewerage design, whether elongated or concise in plan dictates the shape of the percentage-entrainment curve. The percentage-entrainment curves for all constituents were averaged for each basin and plotted against basin runoff for three source areas of runoff-the hydraulically effective impervious area, the contributing area, and the drainage area. The relative positions of the three curves are directly related to the relative sizes of the three source areas considered. One general percentage-entrainment curve based on runoff from the contributing area was formed by averaging across both constituents and basins. Its coordinates are: 0.25 inch of runoff for 50-percent entrainment, 0.65 inch of runoff for 80-percent entrainment, and 0.95 inch of runoff for 90-percent entrainment. The general percentage-entrainment curve based on runoff from the hydraulically effective impervious area has runoff values of 0.35, 0.95, 1.6 inches, respectively.

Florida

Cost-effectiveness of the US Geological Survey stream-gaging program in central Florida

In the Red Oak area, Oklahoma, water in shale bedrock occurs in bedding planes and fractures and is confined. Wells probably yield less than 5 gallons per minute. Ground water is a sodium or mixed cation carbonate/bicarbonate type with dissolved-solids concentrations ranging from about 300 to 700 milligrams per liter. No relationship between water chemistry and well depth or location is apparent. Brazil Creek flows 1 cubic foot per second or less about 25 percent of the time and has no flow about 15 percent of the time. Water in Brazil Creek is a mixed cation carbonate/bicarbonate type. Dissolved-solids concentrations upstream from old and recent mines ranged from 30 to 100 milligrams per liter whereas concentrations downstreams from the mines ranged from 50 to 600 milligrams per liter. Excessive levels of cadmium, chromium, lead, and mercury at times preclude use of water from Brazil and Rock Creeks for public supply. Maximum suspended-sediment discharge, in tons per day, was 2,500 for Brazil Creek and 3,300 for Rock Creek. Silt-clay particles with diameters less than 0.062 millimeter were the dominant sediment size. (USGS)

Water-Resources Investigations Report