Due to a lapse in appropriations, the majority of USGS websites may not be up to date and may not reflect current conditions. Websites displaying real-time data, such as Earthquake and Water and information needed for public health and safety will be updated with limited support. Additionally, USGS will not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. For more information, please see www.doi.gov/shutdown
Mission Areas
Water Resources
Mission Areas L2 Landing Page Tabs
Water information is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management of the Nation’s water resources. The USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, conduct targeted research, and deliver information on a wide range of water resources and conditions including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and wateruse and availability.
Water is one of seven science mission areas of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Water's mission is to collect and disseminate reliable, impartial, and timely information that is needed to understand the Nation's water resources.
Read Science PlanSurface Water-Quality Monitoring Network (WQN)
Overview
Pennsylvania’s Statewide Surface Water-Quality Monitoring Network (WQN) currently consists of 124 sites that are sampled between 6 and 20 times a year. Chemical analysis includes nutrient, major ions, and selected metals. Pesticide sampling is conducted twice a year at 5 locations. Biological sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates is conducted annually at 80 sites.
The...
Science Team about Energy and Plains and Potholes Environments (STEPPE)
Brine Contamination to Plains and Potholes Environments from Energy Development in the Williston Basin
Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAA)
The USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) are a multi-extent, stakeholder driven, near real-time census and seasonal prediction of water availability for both human and ecological uses at regional and national extents.
Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network
Overview
Pennsylvania’s Statewide Fixed Station Groundwater Quality Monitoring Network (GWMN) currently consists of a set of 27 groundwater wells located in 26 counties that are sampled twice a year for a host of chemical constituents. The GWMN was established to characterize the ambient groundwater quality of Pennsylvania aquifers and to provide a temporal dataset to address seasonal...
Science Programs and Partnerships
The USGS partners with local, state, and other federal agencies through cooperative agreements for a variety of reasons. The USGS and partners jointly plan the scientific work conducted under cooperative agreements resulting in science that has broad relevance to address current water issues. Partners choose...
USGS Mine Drainage Activities
The USGS Mine Drainage Activities website (now archived) promoted communication, cooperation, and collaboration among interdisciplinary USGS scientists working on problems related to mining and the environment. It contains catalogs of past mining-related projects, activities, and publications.
Assessment of the immune status of wild and laboratory-maintained smallmouth bass
Deaths of young-of-year smallmouth bass in the Chesapeake Bay drainage has been noted since 2005. Studies of affected fish have found bacterial, viral and parasitic infections. Mixed infections suggest these fish are immunosuppressed. Understanding the role of specific pathogens and environmental factors that contribute to their presence is important but equally important is the understanding...
Trace Metals in San Francisco Bay Clams
The clams Potamocorbula amurensis and Corbicula fluminea were collected at a variety of sites in the San Francisco Bay/ Delta beginning July 1990 and ending February 2010. These invasive species were used as biosentinels of the fate, transport, and effects of trace metals in the San Francisco Bay ecosystem.
Linking Selenium Sources to Ecosystems: Mining
Environmental sources of selenium (Se) such as from organic-enriched sedimentary deposits are geologic in nature and thus can occur on regional scales. A constructed map of the global distribution of Se source rocks informs potential areas of reconnaissance for modeling of Se risk including the phosphate deposits of southeastern Idaho and the coals of Appalachia.
Linking Selenium Sources to Ecosystems: Refining
The San Francisco Bay-Delta receives selenium (Se) internally from oil refineries and externally through riverine agricultural discharges. Predator species considered at risk from Se consume the estuary’s dominant bivalve, C. amurensis, an efficient bioaccumulator of Se. Modeling predicts site-specific ecological risk and derives a range of protective Se concentrations for use by decision-...
Linking Selenium Sources to Ecosystems: Irrigation
Adverse effects of selenium (Se) on fish and waterfowl in wetlands receiving agricultural drainage occurred in the 1980s in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The identified mechanisms of Se enrichment helped resolve Se toxicity problems associated with irrigated agriculture in the arid West. Bioaccumulation of Se in ancient marine sediments is postulated as a primary pathway in source...
Linking Selenium Sources to Ecosystems: Modeling
Selenium (Se) as a contaminant of ecosystems is bioaccumulative and causes reproductive effects in fish and wildlife. Ecosystem-scale Se modeling predicts Se bioaccumulation based on dietary biodynamics within site-specific food webs. The model can be used to forecast Se toxicity under different management or regulatory proposals or to translate a tissue guideline to a dissolved guideline. ...
The USGS collects, analyzes, and distributes data on a wide variety of water-related issues and resources. Much of our data is publicly available through the National Water Information System (NWIS), but additional datasets and analytical tools are also available.
Access NWISWebGroundwater Quality: Decadal Change
Almost one-half of the U.S. population rely on groundwater for their water supply, and demand for groundwater for public supply, irrigation, and agriculture continues to increase. This mapper shows how concentrations of pesticides, nutrients, metals, and organic contaminants in groundwater are changing during decadal periods across the Nation.
Changes in imperviousness for U.S. urban areas, 1974-2012
This product consists of two sets of imperviousness calculations for 3,535 urban areas and urban clusters in the conterminous United States. Imperviousness is given as the percent of the area covered by impervious surfaces, such as roads, buildings, or parking lots.
Increasing chloride in rivers of the conterminous U.S. and linkages to potential corrosivity and lead action level exceedances in drinking water
Abstract
Corrosion in water-distribution systems is a costly problem and controlling...
U.S. Geological Survey GAGES-II time series data from consistent sources of land use, water use, agriculture, timber activities, dam removals, and other historical anthropogenic influences
This product is a series of ten datasets containing tabular data from historical time series sources for the 9,067 conterminous United States sites in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geospatial Attributes of Gages for Evaluating Streamflow II (GAGES-II) dataset.
Watershed Regressions for Pesticides (WARP)
The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project developed a series of statistical models, based on monitoring data and watershed characteristics, to enable estimation of pesticide concentrations for streams that have not been monitored.
Water Budgets Across the United States
In this data visualization, you can see how three major components of the water budget vary across the conterminous US. Precipitation is incoming rain and snow; evapotranspiration is outgoing evaporation from soil and water bodies and transpiration through plants; and runoff is excess water that makes its way to lakes and rivers through streams and spring discharges.
Estimated Annual Agricultural Pesticide Use
For all States except California, proprietary farm survey pesticide-use data are aggregated and reported at the multi-county Crop Reporting District (CRD) level. Harvested-crop acreage data by county from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Census of Agriculture are used to calculate the median pesticide-by- crop use rates for each crop in each CRD.
Ancillary Data Related to Nutrients in the Chesapeake Bay—Data Supporting Structural Equation Modeling of Nutrient Loads
This data release provides ancillary data that describe potential nutrient sources and processes for total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) annual loads for 84 water-quality sites within the Chesapeake Bay.
Water-Quality Changes in the Nation's Streams and Rivers
This mapper provides results from the largest-ever assessment of water quality changes in the Nation's streams and rivers. More than 185 million water-quality records from over 600 Federal, State, Tribal, and local organizations were screened as part of this assessment.
First-of-its-kind Interactive Map Brings Together 40 Years of Water-Quality Data
This mapper provides results from the largest-ever assessment of water-quality changes in the Nation's streams and rivers. More than 185 million water-quality records from over 600 Federal, State, Tribal, and local organizations were screened as part of this assessment.
USGS Water Web Services
This site serves USGS water data (streamflow, groundwater, water quality, site information, and statistics) via automated means using web services and extensible markup language (XML), as well as other popular media types. Services are invoked with the REST protocol. These services designed for high fault tolerance and very high availability.
WaterWatch Toolkit
The USGS WaterWatch Toolkit provides online tools that allow users to search USGS sites in various ways; create a variety of maps, graphs, charts, animations, and tables; perform a variety of streamflow analyses, and retrieve summary statistics.
Downloadable spatial data files for exploration and analysis.
Louisiana Fact Sheets by Parish
Louisiana Fact Sheets by Parish
Tualatin River Basin Beaver Study Area
Map of intensive sites and rapid sites where data was collected for the Tualatin River Basin Beaver Study.
WaterWatch Flood Map
Current stream conditions and NWS forecast stream conditions.
Texas Water Dashboard
The Texas Water Dashboard presents USGS real-time stream, lake and reservoir, precipitation and groundwater data for more than 850 USGS real-time observation stations in Texas.
Ascension Parish
Ascension Parish
Long Island Water Districts
Long Island Water District Areas
Michigan-Ohio Current Water Conditions
The clickable sites, Water Resources Conditions List, and Data Table at the bottom of the map are all connected. Interacting with any of them will activate pop-ups and display the site in both the Map, List and Table.
Virginia Real-Time Precipitation Network
This interactive map shows current and cumulative rainfall total for precipitation sites in Virginia. Map provides real-time precipitation radar image to overlay from National Weather Service.
Assessing Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Risk In U.S. National Parks
Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDC) threaten the reproductive success and long-term survival of sensitive aquatic populations in the U.S. National Park Service (NPS). The project employs a standardized EDC risk assessment framework to link new and ongoing research efforts in individual Parks and in Park Monitoring Networks, in order to provide a service-wide assessment of EDC risk in the NPS.
Maps and GIS Data
Explore water resources maps and GIS data.
Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center, Slidell, Louisiana
River and Coastal Forecast Information
Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center, Slidell, Louisiana—(NWS)
Changes in microbial communities and associated water and gas geochemistry across a sulfate gradient in coal beds: Powder River Basin, USA
Competition between microbial sulfate reduction and methanogenesis drives cycling of fossil carbon and generation of CH4 in sedimentary basins. However, little is understood about the fundamental relationship between subsurface aqueous geochemistry and microbiology that drives these processes. Here...
Schweitzer, Hannah; Ritter, Daniel; McIntosh, Jennifer; Barnhart, Elliott; Cunningham, Alfred B.; Vinson, David; Orem, William H.; Fields, Matthew W.Mixed-chemical exposure and predicted effects potential in wadeable southeastern USA streams
Complex chemical mixtures have been widely reported in larger streams but relatively little work has been done to characterize them and assess their potential effects in headwaterstreams. In 2014, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) sampled 54 Piedmont streams over ten weeks and measured 475 unique organic compounds...
Bradley, Paul M.; Journey, Celeste A.; Berninger, Jason P.; Button, Daniel T.; Clark, Jimmy M.; Corsi, Steven R.; DeCicco, Laura A.; Hopkins, Kristina G.; Huffman, Bradley J.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Norman, Julia E.; Nowell, Lisa H.; Qi, Sharon L.; Van Metre, Peter C.; Waite, Ian R.Linkages between hydrology and seasonal variations of nutrients and periphyton in a large oligotrophic subalpine lake
Periphyton is important to lake ecosystems, contributing to primary production, nutrient cycling, and benthic metabolism. Increases in periphyton growth in lakes can be indicative of changes in water quality, shifts in ecosystem structure, and increases in nutrient fluxes. In oligotrophic lakes, conservationists are interested in characterizing...
Niswonger, Richard G.; Smith, David; Rosenberry, Donald O.; Sudeep Chandra; Naranjo, Ramon C.; Niswonger, Richard G.; Smith, David; Rosenberry, Donald O.; Chandra, SudeepEffects of ferric sulfate and polyaluminum chloride coagulation enhanced treatment wetlands on Typha growth, soil and water chemistry
Land surface subsidence is a concern in many deltas worldwide as it contributes to water quality degradation, loss of fertile land and increased potential for levee failure. As a possible solution to these concerns, on-site coagulation enhanced treatment wetlands(CETWs), coagulation water treatment followed by wetland...
Ling Liang, Yan; Kraus, Tamara E. C.; Silva, Lucas C. R.; Bachand, Philip A. M.; Bachand, Sandra M.; Doane, Timothy A.; Horwath, William R.Updates to the suspended sediment SPARROW model developed for western Oregon and northeastern California
A SPARROW (SPAtially Related Regressions On Watershed attributes) model that was previously developed for western Oregon and northwestern California was updated using advancements in the SPARROW software and refinements to the input data. As was the case for the original model calibration, the updated models used the NHD Plus Version 2 as a...
Wise, Daniel R.Analysis of groundwater response to tidal fluctuations, Site 10 Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port Hadlock, Washington
Site 10 at Naval Magazine Indian Island is an approximately 3.7-acre inactive landfill. The site was used as the primary landfill for the island from about 1945 until the mid-1970s, receiving paints, batteries, trash, and materials. In a memorandum to Washington State Department of Ecology, Naval Facilities Engineering Command Northwest (NAVFAC NW...
Opatz, Chad C.; Dinicola, Richard S.Flood-inundation maps for Cayuga Inlet, Sixmile Creek, Cascadilla Creek, and Fall Creek at Ithaca, New York
Digital flood-inundation maps for a 2.9-square-mile area of Ithaca, New York, were created in 2015–18 by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the City of Ithaca, New York, and the New York State Department of State. The flood-inundation maps depict estimates of the maximum areal extent and depth of flooding corresponding to selected...
Nystrom, Elizabeth A.; Lilienthal, Arthur G.; Coon, William F.Real-time streambed scour monitoring at two bridges over the Gunnison River in western Colorado, 2016–17
The Colorado Department of Transportation maintains roadways crossing over large streams and rivers where sediment transport and channel alignment changes can affect the structural stability of bridges. Structural stability during and immediately after peak streamflow can be assessed by measuring streambed scour; however, placing personnel or...
Henneberg, Mark F.Groundwater, surface-water, and water-chemistry data, Black Mesa area, northeastern Arizona—2015–2016
The Navajo (N) aquifer is an extensive aquifer and the primary source of groundwater in the 5,400-square-mile Black Mesa area in northeastern Arizona. Availability of water is an important issue in the Black Mesa area because of continued water requirements for industrial and municipal use by a growing population and because of the arid climate....
Mason, Jon P.; Macy, Jamie P.Simulation of groundwater storage changes in the Quincy Basin, Washington
The Miocene Columbia River Basalt Group and younger sedimentary deposits of lacustrine, fluvial, eolian, and cataclysmic-flood origins compose the aquifer system of the Quincy Basin in eastern Washington. Irrigation return flow and canal leakage from the Columbia Basin Project have caused groundwater levels to rise substantially in some areas....
Frans, Lonna M.; Kahle, Sue C.; Tecca, Alison E.; Olsen, Theresa D.Comparing groundwater quality in public-supply and shallow aquifers in the Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley Basins, California
Groundwater provides more than 40 percent of California’s drinking water. To protect this vital resource, the State of California created the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program. The Priority Basin Project of the GAMA Program (GAMA-PBP) provides a comprehensive assessment of the State’s groundwater quality and increases...
Burton, Carmen A.Sediment transport monitoring of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River near Stanley, Idaho, 2012–15
The Yankee Fork of the Salmon River is one of the larger watersheds in the upper Salmon River subbasin of central Idaho. Mining activities since the late 19th century, specifically placer mining and associated dredging from 1940 to 1953, have left the fluvial system in a highly altered and unnatural state. To improve aquatic and terrestrial...
Johnsen, James W.Software and related material (data and documentation) are made available by the USGS to be used in the public interest and the advancement of science.
SWToolbox Software Information
USGS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have combined their SWSTAT and DFLOW software programs into a new tool for the low-flow anlaysis, the SWToolbox.
iRIC river flow and riverbed variation analysis
iRIC (International River Interface Cooperative) is a river flow and riverbed variation analysis software package which combines the functionality of MD_SWMS (Multi-Dimensional Surface-Water Modeling System), developed by the USGS, and RIC-Nays, developed by the Foundation of Hokkaido River Disaster Prevention Research Center.
VS2DRTI Version 1.4
VS2DRTI is a graphical software package for simulating water flow, heat transport, and reactive solute transport in variably saturated porous media.
VS2DI Version 1.3
VS2DI is a graphical software package for simulating fluid flow and solute or energy transport in variably saturated porous media.
PHAST - A Computer Program for Simulating Groundwater Flow, Solute Transport, and Multicomponent Geochemical Reactions
PHAST Is a computer program for simulating groundwater flow, solute transport, and multicomponent geochemical reactions.
Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Model (WEBMOD)
The Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Model (WEBMOD) uses the framework of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Modular Modeling System (MMS) to simulate fluxes of water and solutes through watersheds. WEBMOD divides watersheds into model response units (MRU) where fluxes and reactions are simulated for several hillslope reservoir types.
SPARROW modeling: Estimating contaminant transport
What’s New: A new version of the SPARROW code is being developed in the R programming language. The advantage of R is that it is non-proprietary and does not require a license or software cost. The R – SPARROW code is now being completed and should be available early in CY18. Stay Tuned.
Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
SELDM is a database application where users can easily create and run highway-runoff simulations. SELDM simulates storm flows, concentrations, and loads. SELDM calculates the risk of exceeding water-quality criteria with and without user-defined BMPs. SELDM calculates annual runoff loads and is able to do a simple annual lake-loading analysis.
PHREEQC Version 3
PHREEQC Version 3 is a computer program for speciation, batch-reaction, one-Ddmensional transport, and inverse geochemical calculations.
CE-QUAL-W2 - Hydrodynamic and Water Quality Model
CE-QUAL-W2 is a water quality and hydrodynamic model in 2D (longitudinal-vertical) for rivers, estuaries, lakes, reservoirs and river basin systems. W2 models basic eutrophication processes such as temperature-nutrient-algae-dissolved oxygen-organic matter and sediment relationships.
GCLAS (Graphical Constituent Loading Analysis System)
GCLAS is a program designed primarily to compute daily and annual loadings of constituents transported in streamflow.
MT3D-USGS: Groundwater Solute Transport Simulator for MODFLOW
MT3D-USGS is a USGS updated release of the groundwater solute transport code MT3DMS. MT3D-USGS includes new transport modeling capabilities to accommodate flow terms calculated by MODFLOW packages that were previously unsupported by MT3DMS and to provide greater flexibility in the simulation of solute transport and reactive solute transport.
The USGS produces many types of multimedia products. Use the links below to browse our offerings of photograph galleries, podcasts and sound files, videos, aerial photos, and posters related to water. The USGS Newsroom has a Web page that highlights the main collection of multimedia products.
Saline Groundwater Use in the U.S.
Data show that use of saline groundwater has been increasing since 1985.
Trends in population and freshwater withdrawals by source, 1950–2015
Trends in population and freshwater withdrawals by source, 1950–2015
Collection of data visualizations
Collection of visualizations that take complex data and make them accessible to non-scientific audiences
Regulation in StreamStats screenshot
Regulation in StreamStats screenshot
Data Science: Lake Mead Water Level Decline Visualization
Data Science: Lake Mead Water Level Decline Visualization. Click here to read more about USGS Water Resources Mission Area Data Science.
Components of a simple water budget for part of a watershed
Components of a simple water budget for part of a watershed, from Healy, R.W., Winter, T.C., LaBaugh, J.W., and Franke, O.L., 2007, Water budgets: Foundations for effective water-resources and environmental management: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1308.
Brackish Groundwater discharge through a spring in Death Valley, CA
Groundwater in basin-fill aquifers of the Southwest often increases in dissolved-solids content as it travels along its flow path as a result of geochemical interactions with the aquifer matrix and through evaporative processes. At the end of its flowpath, groundwater may be brackish or saline and discharges to the surface through springs such this one in Death Valley
...Trends in total water withdrawals by water-use category, 1950–2015
Trends in total water withdrawals by water-use category, 1950–2015
Data Science for Water Resources GIF
Data Science for Water Resources GIF
Upstream Network Trace in StreamStats screenshot
Upstream Network Trace in StreamStats screenshot
Data Science: Lake Mead Water Level Drop Visualization 2
Data Science: Water Use in 2015 Visualization 2. Click here to read more about USGS Water Resources Mission Area Data Science.
Available Precipitation - Average from 1934 to 2002 In Inches Per Year
Available Precipitation - Average from 1934 to 2002 In Inches Per Year
Design of Private Wells Can Lead to Safer Drinking Water in Minnesota
Minnesota well drillers and landowners will now have new tools to help predict arsenic concentrations in drinking water when building domestic water wells, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.
Seeking Water from Above: Low-Level Helicopter to Fly Southern Portion of Mississippi Alluvial Plain
Editor: In the public interest and in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the USGS is announcing this low-level airborne project. Your assistance informing the local communities is appreciated.
USGS Researcher Michael Dettinger Named 2018 American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow
Research hydrologist Dr. Michael Dettinger, whose work has contributed greatly to the understanding of the interconnectedness of climate and water supplies in the Western U.S., is among this year’s AAAS Fellows.
View Sediment Core Collection on Lake Powell
Reporters: RSVP to Visit Coring Site on Lake Powell
USGS: Florence set at least 28 flood records in Carolinas
To learn more about USGS’ role providing science to decision makers before, during and after Hurricane Florence, visit the USGS Hurricane Florence page at https://www.usgs.gov/florence.
USGS Working to Restore Streamgages
For questions about a streamgage in your state, please contact your local USGS water science center; contacts can be found at https://water.usgs.gov/key_officials.html.
Back and Forth: Ask Questions and Learn More About the Low-Level Helicopter Flying Above the Mississippi Alluvial Plain
Media: Please join the U.S. Geological Survey, CGG Airborne, and various partners for a demonstration takeoff of the low-flying helicopter and description of what scientists are seeking in/around the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. Please RSVP to Heidi Koontz at 720-320-1246 or hkoontz@usgs.gov.
Seeking Water from Above: Low-Level Helicopter to Fly Above Mississippi Alluvial Plain
Editor: In the public interest and in accordance with Federal Aviation Administration regulations, the USGS is announcing this low-level airborne project. Your assistance informing the local communities is appreciated.
USGS Measures Flooding Across Texas
Reporters: Do you want to accompany a USGS field crew as they measure flooding? Please contact Jennifer LaVista or Lynne Fahlquist.
Scientists to Measure Wood River Valley Groundwater Levels
Data Will Help to Improve Groundwater-Flow ModelData Will Help to Improve Groundwater-Flow Model
USGS Crews Work Fast to Capture Evidence of Devastating Carolina Floods
To learn more about USGS’ role providing science to decision makers before, during and after #Florence, visit the #USGS Hurricane Florence page at https://www.usgs.gov/florence
USGS Prepares to Measure Flooding Across Arizona
Reporters: Do you want to accompany a USGS field crew as they measure flooding? Please contact Jennifer LaVista or Jim Leenhouts