Welcome to the Upper Tennessee River Basin......
In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S.
Department of the Interior, began implementation of the National
Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of the
NAWQA Program are to describe, in a nationally consistent manner, the
status of and trends in the quality of a large representative part of
the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources and to provide a sound
scientific understanding of the principal natural and human-related
factors that affect the quality of these resources. In addressing these
goals, the NAWQA Program will provide water-quality information that is
useful to policymakers and managers at Federal, State, and local
levels.
Studies of 60 hydrologic systems that include parts of most major river
basins and aquifer systems in the country are the building blocks of
the national assessment. The 60 study units range in size from 1,000 to
more than 60,000 square miles and represent about 65 percent of the
Nation's water use and the population served by public water supplies.
Investigations of 20 study units began in 1991, 20 additional
investigations began in 1994, and 20 more began in 1997.
Assessment activities in the upper Tennessee River Basin study unit
began in 1994. Details for this study may be found within the following items:
