Abstract

Three streams in the middle-upper Chattahoochee River basin in north Georgia were selected to examine urban effects on streamflow regimes during the period 1960-1989. Under similar precipitation regimes, the urban stream, Peachtree Creek, has lower frequencies of moderate-magnitude flows than the rural stream, Snake Creek. High- and very low-magnitude flows are more frequent in the urban Peachtree Creek basin. The flow frequency distribution of Big Creek, partially urbanized, lies between those of the urban and rural basins. Such a spatial comparison indicates a change from a rural to an urban streamflow regime. In all three basins, there are no statistically significant increasing or decreasing trends in streamflow frequencies during the study period. Results from regression analysis indicate that less-heavy rainfalls are now more effective in causing high-magnitude flows than 15 years earlier in the Big Creek basin which has undergone rapid urban development.

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