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Hydrology of the Creeping Swamp Watershed, North Carolina with reference to potential effects of stream channelization

Water-Resources Investigations Report 77-26
By:  and 
https://doi.org/10.3133/wri7726

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Abstract

Hydrologic data were collected for four years at six sites in the Creeping Swamp watershed in eastern North Carolina in a preliminary effort to study the effects of stream channelization on the hydrology of a small watershed. A water-budget evaluation for pre-channelized conditions showed that runoff accounts for about 17 percent of the total rainfall, base runoff about 20 percent, ground-water outflow about 2 percent, and evapotranspiration about 61 percent. Channelization would have caused the greatest decline in ground-water levels nearest the stream, with the decline diminishing with increased distance from the stream. Channelization would also have resulted in a decrease in overland runoff and an increase in the amount of water reaching Creeping Swamp through the ground-water system, although the total volume of runoff would not change significantly. The water-quality characteristics of Creeping Swamp indicate that the stream is relatively free of pollution, although it is likely that channelization would increase (1) suspended-sediment loads, (2) stream temperatures, and (3) concentrations of dissolved solids, especially during low flows.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Hydrology of the Creeping Swamp Watershed, North Carolina with reference to potential effects of stream channelization
Series title Water-Resources Investigations Report
Series number 77-26
DOI 10.3133/wri7726
Year Published 1977
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Publisher location Reston, VA
Contributing office(s) South Atlantic Water Science Center
Description vi, 54 p.
Country United States
State North Carolina
Other Geospatial Creeping Swamp Watershed
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