What is the largest river basin in the world?
What is the largest river basin in the world?
The Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin, in northern South America, is the largest in the world. The Amazon River and all of its tributaries drain an area more than 7 million square kilometers (about 3 million square miles). Structural basins are formed by tectonic activity.
What is the population of the Savannah River basin?
Population information summarized in the 2007 Savannah River Basinwide Water Quality Plan reported an estimated population in the basin of 11,500 in the year 2000. Population growth from 2000 to 2020 is projected to range from approximately 11 percent (Transylvania County) to 35 percent (Clay and Macon counties).
Why is the Savannah River so important?
The Savannah River supplies drinking water to Augusta and Savannah, Georgia, and Hilton Head, and Beaufort, SC, and many smaller municipalities in the basin. As salt water intrudes into the aquifers near the coast, the freshwater of the Savannah River becomes even more important as a source of drinking water.
Is the Savannah River drinkable?
In addition, for more than 1.5 million Georgia and South Carolina residents, the Savannah River serves as the primary source for drinking water.
Why are basins important?
Catchment basins are vital elements of the ecosystem in which soil, plants, animals and water are all interdependent. Basins are vital to human existence, since they provide clean water for drinking; water for growing food; and water to nourish plant life, which provides the oxygen people breathe.
How many counties are in the Savannah River basin?
On a map, the basin roughly resembles an arrowhead. It encompasses 10,577 square miles, of which 175 square miles are in southwestern North Carolina, 4,581 square miles are in western South Carolina, and 5,821 square miles are in eastern Georgia. In Georgia, the basin drains portions of twenty-seven counties.
How deep is the Savannah River port?
47 feet
Port of Savannah | |
---|---|
Owned by | Georgia Ports Authority |
Type of harbor | river natural |
Draft depth | Depth 47 feet (14 m) |
Air draft | 185 feet, restricted by Talmadge Memorial Bridge |
What are three primary functions of the Savannah River?
The river is used extensively for hydroelectric, flood-control, and navigation purposes. Dams and reservoirs include Hartwell and Clark Hill near Augusta. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Savannah River Plant is in Aiken and Barnwell counties in South Carolina, down the river from Augusta.
How did Savannah River get its name?
The name “Savannah” comes from a group of Shawnee who migrated to the Piedmont region in the 1680s. They destroyed the Westo and occupied established Westo lands at the Savannah River’s head of navigation on the Fall Line. Present-day Augusta developed near there.
Why is the Savannah River so dirty?
Pollution of the Savannah River: The Savannah River is contaminated as a result of highly contaminated surface water flowing into it from SRS, though the large flow of the river dilutes the contamination to well within present safe drinking water limits.
How did the Savannah River get its name?
Early Spanish explorers called the river Río Dulce (“Sweet River”), and its Indian name was Isondega (“Blue Water”); the name Savannah was probably derived from the Spanish sabana (“flat country”) or from the Sawana Indians.
What are some interesting facts about the Savannah River?
Quick Facts about the River. The Savannah River Basin is located in eastern Georgia and western South Carolina and defines the state boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. The Chattooga and Tallulah Rivers join in the Savannah River headwaters to form the Tugaloo River. Further downstream near Hartwell, the Tugaloo River joins with…
How big is the Savannah River basin in North Carolina?
Rare plants, birds and animals and thundering waterfalls create a wilderness paradise within North Carolina’s Savannah River Basin. Although it shares the basin with South Carolina and Georgia, its small part of the 10,577-square-mile watershed lies within the state.
Where is the Savannah River located in Georgia?
Quick Facts about the River The Savannah River Basin is located in eastern Georgia and western South Carolina and defines the state boundary between Georgia and South Carolina. The Chattooga and Tallulah Rivers join in the Savannah River headwaters to form the Tugaloo River.
What is forestry in the Savannah River basin?
Forestry represents a major part of the economy in the Savannah River Basin, with approximately 2.4 million acres of commercial forest land. Agricultural practices in the basin include animal operations and commodity production.