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Research about Greenville, South Carolina

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Greenville, South Carolina.

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Flood-inundation maps for the Saluda River from Old Easley Bridge Road to Saluda Lake Dam near Greenville, South Carolina

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 3.95-mile reach of the Saluda River from approximately 815 feet downstream from Old Easley Bridge Road to approximately 150 feet downstream from Saluda Lake Dam near Greenville, South Carolina, were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Science Web site at http://water.usgs.gov/osw/flood_inundation/, depict estimates of the areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected water levels (stages) at the USGS streamgage at Saluda River near Greenville, South Carolina (station 02162500). Current conditions at the USGS streamgage may be obtained through the National Water Information System Web site at http://waterdata.usgs.gov/sc/nwis/uv/?site_no=02162500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060,00062. The National Weather Service (NWS) forecasts flood hydrographs at many places that are often collocated with USGS streamgages. Forecasted peak-stage information is available on the Internet at the NWS Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) flood-warning system Web site (http://water.weather.gov/ahps/) and may be used in conjunction with the maps developed in this study to show predicted areas of flood inundation.In this study, flood profiles were computed for the stream reach by means of a one-dimensional step-backwater model. The model was calibrated using the most current stage-streamflow relations at USGS streamgage station 02162500, Saluda River near Greenville, South Carolina. The hydraulic model was then used to determine water-surface profiles for flood stages at 1.0-foot intervals referenced to the streamgage datum and ranging from approximately bankfull to 2 feet higher than the highest recorded water level at the streamgage. The simulated water-surface profiles were then exported to a geographic information system, ArcGIS, and combined with a digital elevation model (derived from Light Detection and Ranging [LiDAR] data with a 0.6-foot vertical Root Mean Square Error [RMSE] and a 3.0-foot horizontal RMSE), using HEC-GeoRAS tools in order to delineate the area flooded at each water level. The availability of these maps, along with real-time stage data from the USGS streamgage station 02162500 and forecasted stream stages from the NWS, can provide emergency management personnel and residents with information that is critical during flood-response and flood-recovery activities, such as evacuations, road closures, and disaster declarations.

South Carolina

Temporal changes in VOC discharge to surface water from a fractured rock aquifer during well installation and operation, Greenville, South Carolina

Analysis of the vapor in passive vapor samplers retrieved from a streambed in fractured rock terrain implied that volatile organic carbon (VOC) discharge from ground water to surface water substantially increased following installation of a contaminant recovery well using air rotary drilling. The air rotary technique forced air into the aquifer near the stream. The injection produced an upward hydraulic gradient that appears to have transported water and contaminants from deeper parts of the aquifer through fractures into shallow parts of the aquifer. Once in the shallow flow regime, the contamination was transported to the stream, where it discharged during the next several weeks following well installation. After the recovery well was activated and began continuously pumping contaminated ground water to a treatment facility, the VOC concentrations in the stream bottom passive vapor samplers decreased to below detectable concentrations, suggesting that the withdrawal had captured the contaminated ground water that previously had discharged to the stream.

South Carolina

Transport and transformations of chlorinated-solvent contamination in a saprolite and fractured rock aquifer near a former wastewater-treatment plant, Greenville, South Carolina

The transport and fate of chlorinated-ethene contamination was investigated in a fractured-rock aquifer downgradient from a wastewater-treatment plant at a gas-turbine manufacturing facility in Greenville, South Carolina. A vapor-diffusion-sampler technique, developed for this investigation, located fracture zones that discharged contaminated ground water to surface water. The distribution of chlorinated compounds and sulfate, comparison of borehole geophysical data, driller's logs, and the aquifer response to pumpage allowed subsurface contaminant-transport pathways to be delineated.The probable contaminant-transport pathway from the former aeration lagoon was southward. The probable pathway of contaminant transport from the former sludge lagoon was southward to and beneath Little Rocky Creek. South of the creek, the major pathway of contaminant transport appeared to be at a depth of approximately 80 to 107 feet below land surface. The contaminant-transport pathway from the former industrial lagoon was not readily discernible from existing data. A laboratory investigation, as well as examination of ground- water-chemistry data collected during this investigation and concentrations of chlorinated compounds collected during previous investigations,indicates that higher chlorinated compounds are being degraded to lower-chlorinated compounds in the contaminated aquifer. The approaches used in this investigation, as well as the findings, have potential application to other fractured-rock aquifers contaminated by chlorinated ethenes.

South Carolina