A Georgia Watershed Atlas Directory

Abstract

In an effort to provide citizens in the Georgia region with information about watershed management and water quality, the Georgia Environmental Organization (GEO), the University of Georgia, and Southern Geographic Information Services, a corporate business unit of the Southern Company, have developed a geographic information system (GIS) database for a Georgia Watershed Atlas. The Atlas includes 14 major watersheds divided into 179 Ecobasins. In addition to base category data of boundaries, roads, lakes, and rivers, the Atlas database includes wetlands, federal and state superfund sites (CERCLA and HSRA), waste water discharge sites (NPDES), gauging stations, surface mines, solid waste sites, hazardous waste sites, national and state parks, airports, cities, urban and industrial intake and discharge sites, and water quality sampling sites. The database is being used to produce an Atlas/Directory with each Ecobasin represented on a 17x22-inch map and a corresponding information page. The database and Atlas production have been accomplished with GIS and digital mapping techniques described in this paper. The information pages are briefly described and the items included are listed.