Donna S. Washabaugh Rick T. Iwatsubo 1982 <p><span>A water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin was made to </span><span>provide a summary of the water-quality conditions including known or potential </span><span>water-quality problems. Results of the study showed that the water quality of </span><span>the Smith River is excellent and generally meets the water-quality objectives </span><span>for the beneficial uses identified by the California Regional Water Quality </span><span>Control Board, North Coast Region. </span></p><p><span>Known and potential problems related to water quality include: Sedimentation resulting from both natural erosional processes and land-use activities such as timber harvest, road construction, and mining that accelerate the erosional processes; bacterial contamination of surface and ground waters from inundated septic tanks and drainfields, and grazing activities; industrial spills which have resulted in fish kills and oil residues; high concentrations of iron in ground water; log and debris jams creating fish migration barriers; and pesticide and trace-element contamination from timber-harvest and mining activities, respectively. </span></p><p><span>Future studies are needed to establish: (1) a sustained long-term monitoring program to provide a broad coverage of water-quality conditions in order to define long-term water-quality trends; and (2) interpretive studies to determine the source of known and potential water-quality problems. </span></p> application/pdf 10.3133/wri8122 en U.S. Geological Survey Water-quality assessment of the Smith River drainage basin, California and Oregon reports