Storage requirements for Georgia streams

Abstract

The suitability of a stream as a source of water supply or for waste disposal may be severely limited by low flow during certain periods. A water user may be forced to provide storage facilities to supplement the natural flow if the low flow is insufficient for his needs. This report provides data for evaluating the feasibility of augmenting low streamflow by means of storage facilities. It contains tabular data on storage requirements for draft rates that are as much as 60 percent of the mean annual flow at 99 continuous-record gaging stations, and draft-storage diagrams for estimating storage requirements at many additional sites. Through analyses of streamflow data, the State was divided into four regions. Draft-storage diagrams for each region provide a means of estimating storage requirements for sites on streams where data are scant, provided the drainage area, mean annual flow, and the 7-day, 10-year low flow are known or can be estimated. These data are tabulated for the 99 gaging stations used in the analyses and for 102 partial-record sites where only base-flow measurements have been made. The draft-storage diagrams are useful not only for estimating in-channel storage required for low-flow augmentation, but also can be used for estimating the volume of off-channel storage required to retain wastewater during low-flow periods for later release. In addition, these relationships can be helpful in estimating the volume of wastewater to be disposed of by spraying on land, provided that the water disposed of in this manner is only that for which streamflow dilution water is not currently available. Mean annual flow can be determined for any stream within the State by using the runoff map in this report. Low-flow indices can be estimated by several methods, including correlation of base-flow measurements with concurrent flow at nearby continuous-record gaging stations where low-flow indices have been determined.