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Abstract
Nonpoint-source (NPS) pollution is a major source of water quality impairment in Georgia's waters. With rapid development in Georgia, turbid storm-water discharges from construction sites has become the leading cause of NPS pollution. From August 1, 2000, to the present the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) has accumulated turbidity data from storm-water discharges associated with land-disturbing activities at construction sites. A small sample of these data (20 sites) were used here to evaluate whether variations in turbidity can be explained by the type of disturbance (spatial vs. linear), magnitude of the disturbance area, the time of year, or the amount of precipitation. Recommendations were made to EPD on their current National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems (NPDES) permit based on these data plus an analysis of similar programs in three other Southeastern states.