The application of remote sensing, geographic information systems, and Global Positioning System technology to improve water quality in northern Alabama

Recently, the water quality status in northern Alabama has been declining due to urban and agricultural growth. Throughout the years, the application of remote sensing and geographic information system technology has undergone numerous modifications and revisions to enhance their ability to control, reduce, and estimate the origin of non-point source pollution. Yet, there is still a considerable amount of uncertainty surrounding the use of this technology as well as its modifications. This research demonstrates how the application of remote sensing, geographic information system, and global positioning system technologies can be used to assess water quality in the Wheeler Lake watershed. In an effort to construct a GIS based water quality database of the study area for future use, a land use cover of the study area will be derived from LANDSAT Thermatic Mapper (TM) imagery using ERDAS IMAGINE image processing software. A Digital Elevation Model of the Wheeler Lake watershed was also from an Environmental Protection Agency Basins database. Physical and chemical properties of water samples including pH, Total Suspended Solids (TSS), Total Fecal Coliform (TC), Total Nitrogen (TN), Total Phosphorus (TP), Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Dissolved Oxygen (DO), and selected metal concentrations were measured.