Inorganic water-quality data can now be downloaded!
Click on the interactive map link or the interactive table link below!
The Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Complex is located (Click for here for map (20K image)) approximately 7 miles southwest of Columbia, Missouri, near the town of McBaine, along the north bank of the Missouri River. The 8.7 square mile area is bounded to the southwest by the Missouri River and to the northeast by Perche Creek (28K image). Perche Creek flows southward and discharges into the Missouri River in the southern part of the study area. Along the levees surrounding the study area are several "blew holes" (scour holes) formed by levee failures during past flooding events. Many of these blew holes contain water year-round and provide habitat for fish and other forms of aquatic life. The area outside of the wetlands is flat lying agricultural land that is mainly used for raising row crops such as corn, wheat, and soybeans.
Sampling
locations (17K image)
Water samples collected from 32 ground- and 2 surface-water sites (image map click here) (interactive table of wells click here) are analyzed for pH, specific conductance, temperature, dissolved oxygen, nutrients, bacteria, major cations and anions, trace metals, and total and dissolved organic carbon. Ten of the 34 sampling sites are analyzed for base/neutral/acid semivolatile organic compounds, purgeable volatile organic compounds, selected pesticides, and selected organochlorine compounds. All water samples are collected on a quarterly schedule that began in August 1992. Click here for a photo (20K image) of the inside of our water-quality field vehicle.
Dissolved nitrogen concentrations were less than 10 milligrams per liter for all but one ground-water sample. Dissolved phosphorous concentrations ranged from less than 0.01 to 1.40 milligrams per liter in the ground-water samples and ranged from 0.05 to 1.30 milligrams per liter in the surface water samples. Fecal coliform ranged from less than 1 to 6 colonies per 100 milliliters for ground-water samples and ranged from less than 1 to 14,000 colonies per 100 milliliters for surface-water samples. Fecal streptococcus ranged from less than 1 to 150 colonies per 100 milliliters for ground-water samples and ranged from 5 to 19,000 colonies per 100 milliliters for surface-water samples. Samples for one ground-water site had arsenic concentrations that exceeded 50 micrograms per liter. Manganese concentrations exceeded 50 micrograms per liter at least once for each site. Iron concentrations exceeded 300 micrograms per liter at least once for 28 of 31 sites.
There were no organic compounds (except for pesticides) detected in any of the samples. Atrazine was the most frequently detected pesticide; it was detected at least once at each ground-water site and consistently at both surface-water sites. Metolachlor, chlorpyrifos, atrazine, prometon, and simazine were detected in every sample collected at the surface-water sites.
Typical
monitoring well construction (8K image)
Fourteen of the thirty-two wells were installed by the USGS during June 1992. All other wells that are sampled for water-quality data have similar construction. The fourteen wells that the USGS installed were constructed as follows:
Effects
of the 1993 flood (63K image)
The Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Complex is situated in the Missouri River floodplain and as a result was impacted by the floods of both 1993 and 1995. During the 1993 flood, the flood water breached the main river levees in three main areas: two upstream of Eagle Bluffs and one downstream of Eagle Bluffs. The flood water was approximately 12 feet deep over most of the floodplain during the peak of the 1993 flood. Many of the structures constructed by the MDC were damaged. The City of Columbia wastewater treatment wetland structures received only minor damage during the flood of 1993.
The 1995 flood caused further damage to some of the MDC structures in Eagle Bluffs. Though damage to the Eagle Bluffs structures was minor, because repairs had been postponed until the main river levees were restored. The wastewater treatment wetlands received only minor damage during the flood of 1995.
Repairs to most of the MDC structures were completed after reconstruction of the main river levees in late summer 1995. The Eagle Bluffs Wildlife Area opened for waterfowl hunting on October 28, 1995, about two years behind schedule. The wastewater treatment wetlands began operation in October 1994, about one year behind schedule.
The Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Monitoring Project is jointly funded through cooperative agreements among the Missouri Department of Conservation, the City of Columbia, Missouri, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The study is integrated with other studies operating at the Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Complex.
Richards, J.M., 1999, Hydrologic Data for the Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Complex, Columbia, Missouri—1993-96, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 99-607, 91p.
Richards, J.M., 1995, Hydrologic Data for the Columbia/Eagle Bluffs Wetland Complex, Columbia, Missouri—1992-93, U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 95-109, 50p.
Heimann, D.C., Richards, J.M., and Wilkison, D.H., 1997, Agricultural chemicals in alluvial aquifers in Missouri after the 1993 flood: Journal of Environmental Quality, v. 26, p. 361-371
Contact address:
Joseph M. Richards, Hydrologist
U.S. Geological Survey
1400 Independence Rd, Mail Stop 100
Rolla, MO 65401
PHONE: 573-308-3568
FAX: 573-308-3645
EMAIL: richards@usgs.gov
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer: Rita Choate, Webmaster
Updated: October 14, 2003
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URL: http://mo.water.usgs.gov/current_studies/richards/wetlands/project2.htm
