Assessing Spatial Hydrological Data Integration to Characterize Geographic Trends in Small Reservoirs in the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin

Reservoirs cause significant hydrologic change including habitat loss, stream fragmentation, altered net evaporation, and modified sediment and nutrient distribution. The ApalachicolaChattahoochee- Flint (ACF) River Basin in Georgia, Alabama, and Florida is recognized internationally for freshwater biodiversity, includes one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, and contains numerous artificial reservoirs. To assess the potential impact of small reservoirs in the ACF, a previously unavailable GIS database of reservoirs was constructed. The reservoir database was generated through synthesis of data from several agencies and analysis of topographic maps, landcover data, and highresolution aerial photography from 2005-2008. In total, over 24,500 small reservoirs appeared man-made or man-managed and covered over 230 square kilometers of surface area (25 percent of the basin's total reservoir surface area), caused over 11,000 stream fragmentations, and converted over 1,900 kilometers of linear stream distance from riverine habitat to lacustrine reservoir habitat, nearly 50 percent of the basin's total converted stream distance.