Protecting the Water Quality of Georgia’s Rivers, Lakes, and Estuaries
Tetra Tech is working with the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) to develop models of Georgia’s water resources for current and future water quality impact planning.
Our modeling team used our Leading with Science® approach to develop detailed and comprehensive models of Georgia’s watersheds, rivers, lakes, and estuaries. The models were calibrated to existing conditions and linked together to provide a comprehensive analysis of how upstream water quality impacts downstream water resources.
Since 2008 Tetra Tech has provided model results to assist state and local entities within 11 water planning regions. The Georgia EPD uses these models to conduct resource assessments of Georgia’s streams to determine if there is sufficient assimilative capacity to handle current waste load allocations and nonpoint source pollutants to Georgia’s waters and to evaluate the future water quality impacts. The project included evaluation of more than 500 scenarios, including analyzing septic systems, green stormwater infrastructure, low impact development, land use change, reuse, water quality standards, water availability and reliability, new water sources, climate change, and sustainability.
Georgia also has used Tetra Tech’s analysis to assess current water quality standards and make recommendations to the Georgia Board of Natural Resources to update current water quality standards for both dissolved oxygen and fecal coliform.