Water-Quality Assessment of the Sacramento River Basin, California: Water-Quality, Sediment and Tissue Chemistry, and Biological Data, 1995-1998 (Open-File Report 2000-391)

Indicator Stream Network

Cache Creek at Rumsey, California
Sacramento Slough near Knights Landing, California
Colusa Basin Drain at Road 99E near Knights Landing, California
Arcade Creek near Del Paso Heights, California

Indicator streams drain small to intermediate sized watersheds with relatively homogeneous land use and geology. The Cache Creek watershed lies within the Coast Ranges and Sacramento Valley physiographic provinces. Cache Creek was chosen because of the occurrence of mercury mines and the potential for water quality degradation from runoff from those mines. The Sacramento Slough and Colusa Basin Drain basins are located entirely in the Sacramento Valley and were chosen to determine the impacts of agriculture on stream-water quality. The Arcade Creek basin is located entirely in an urbanized region. It was chosen to determine the impacts of urban processes on stream-water quality.

Stream water was sampled at various intervals, either monthly, twice monthly, and in some instances following storms.

Map showing indicator sites in the sacramento study area

Cache Creek at Rumsey, California

Field measurements, total hardness, and suspended sediment: view data | download data
Major inorganic constituents in filtered water: view data | download data
Nutrient and organic carbon: view data | download data
Trace elements in filtered water: view data | download data
Mercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water analyzed by gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (Sacramento laboratory): view data | download data
Stream flow: download daily mean discharge values
Hydrograph of daily mean discharge and date of sampling events: view hydrograph plot

Cache Creek site photos

Sacramento Slough near Knights Landing, California

Field measurements, total hardness, and suspended sediment: view data | download data
Major inorganic constituents in filtered water: view data | download data
Nutrient and organic carbon: view data | download data
Trace elements in filtered water: view data | download data
Mercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Methylmercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water analyzed by gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (Sacramento laboratory): view data | download data
Stream flow: download daily mean discharge values
Hydrograph of daily mean discharge and date of sampling events: view hydrograph plot

Sacramento Slough site photo

Colusa Basin Drain at Road 99E near Knights Landing, California

Field measurements, total hardness, and suspended sediment: view data | download data
Major inorganic constituents in filtered water: view data | download data
Nutrient and organic carbon: view data | download data
Trace elements in filtered water: view data | download data
Mercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Methylmercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water measured by gas chromatography (GC/MS): view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water measured by liquid chromatography: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water analyzed by gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (Sacramento laboratory): view data | download data
Stream flow: Measurements for Colusa Basin Drain are provided for both the Knights Landing Site and an upstream site (Colusa Basin Drain at Highway 20). The upstream site is provided in addition to the Knights Landing site because stream flow measurements were not always available from the Knights Landing site. download daily mean discharge values
Hydrograph of daily mean discharge and date of sampling events view hydrograph plot

Colusa Basin Drain site photo

Arcade Creek near Del Paso Heights, California

Field measurements, total hardness, and suspended sediment: view data | download data
Major inorganic constituents in filtered water: view data | download data
Nutrient and organic carbon: view data | download data
Trace elements in filtered water: view data | download data
Mercury in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water measured by gas chromatography (GC/MS): view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water measured by liquid chromatography view data | download data
Volatile organic compounds in unfiltered water: view data | download data
Pesticides in filtered water analyzed by gas chromatography/ion trap mass spectrometry (Sacramento laboratory): view data | download data
Stream flow: download daily mean discharge values
Hydrograph of daily mean discharge and date of sampling events: view hydrograph plot

Arcade Creek site photo