USGS
Water Resources

Programs

The USGS is the Nation's largest earth-science agency and has the principal responsibility within the Federal government for providing hydrologic information and for appraising the Nation's water resources. Hydrologic data and other data are used in research and hydrologic studies to describe the quantity, quality, and location of the water resources of the United States. The collection, analysis, and interpretation of these data is done in cooperation with other federal, state and local agencies, universities, and research centers.

State and Regional

The USGS manages water information at offices located throughout the United States. Although all offices are tied together through a Nation-wide computer network, each collects data and conducts studies in a particular area. Local information is best found at these sites.

National (listed alphabetically)

Branch of Quality Systems -- Part of the Office of Water Quality this program manages and operates water-quality quality-assurance projects for the USGS and provides training and coordination on developing quality-assurance programs for the USGS.

Branch of Geophysics -- Part of the Office of Ground Water. This program provides a national focus to the regional and State water resources geophysical activities. Branch of Geophysical Applications and Support

Chlorofluorocarbon Laboratory-- The Reston Chlorofluorocarbon Laboratory provides analytical services for determination of the chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) CFC-11, CFC-12, and CFC-113, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and other gases in air and water samples in support of USGS hydrologic studies to trace the flow of young water (0- to 50-year time scale) and to determine the time elapsed since recharge (ground-water age).

Cooperative Water Program -- The Cooperative Program, a partnership between the USGS and State and local agencies, provides information that forms the foundation for many of the Nation's water-resources management and planning activities.

Drinking Water Programs -- The wide range of monitoring, assessment, and research activities conducted by the USGS to help understand and protect the quality of our drinking-water resources is described on these pages. These studies are often done in collaboration with other Federal, State, Tribal, and local agencies.

Ground Water Resources Program -- The Ground-Water Resources Program encompasses regional studies of ground-water systems, multidisciplinary studies of critical ground-water issues, access to ground-water data, and research and methods development. The program provides unbiased scientific information and many of the tools that are used by Federal, State, and local management and regulatory agencies to make important decisions about the Nation's ground-water resources.

Ground Water Atlas of the United States -- The USGS series of print publications "The Ground Water Atlas of the United States" describes the location, the extent, and the geologic and hydrologic characteristics of the important aquifers of the Nation.

Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) -- supports USGS hydrologic data-collection activities through the identification of needs, development of technical specifications, design or development of specialized interfaces, contracts and procurements, testing and evaluation, specialized field applications, repair and calibration, quality control and assurance, and storage and distribution of hydrologic instrumentation.

National Atmospheric Deposition Program/National Trends Network (NADP/NTN) -- A nationwide network of precipitation monitoring sites. The first sites in the network were established in 1978. The network currently consists of approximately 200 sites.

National Irrigation Water Quality Program -- A Department of Interior program to identify and address irrigation-induced water quality and contamination problems related to Department of Interior water projects in the west.

National Research Program -- conducts basic and problem oriented hydrologic research in support of the mission of the USGS. The program is designed to encourage pursuit of a diverse agenda of research topics aimed at providing new knowledge and insights into varied and complex hydrologic processes that are not well understood.

National Streamflow Information Program -- The National Streamflow Information Program (NSIP) is a conceptual plan developed by the USGS for a new approach to the acquisition and delivery of streamflow information.

National Stream Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) -- focus is on monitoring the water quality of four of the Nation's largest river systems--the Mississippi (including the Missouri and Ohio), the Columbia, the Colorado, and the Rio Grande.

National Water Quality Assessment Program -- A program designed to assess historical, current, and future water-quality conditions in representative river basins and aquifers nationwide.

National Water Quality Laboratory -- Fulfills analytical requirements of the USGS by analyzing environmental samples for inorganic, organic, and radiochemical constituents.

National Water Summary -- A series of publications designed to increase public understanding of the nature, geographic distribution, magnitude, and trends of the Nation's water resources. It often is referred to as the USGS "encyclopedia of water."

National Water-Use Program -- A program examining the withdrawal, use, and return flow of water on local, state, and national levels.

State Water Resources Research Institute Program -- A matching grant program to support water resources research, education, and information transfer at the 54 university based Water Resources Research Institutes. This program includes the National Institutes for Water Resources USGS Student Internship Program.

Toxic Substances Hydrology (Toxics) Program -- provides unbiased earth science information on the behavior of toxic substances in the Nation's hydrologic environments. The information is used to avoid human exposure, to develop effective cleanup strategies, and to prevent further contamination.

USGS Environmental Affairs Program -- provides guidance and information on the National Environmental Policy Act and other environmental issues.

Water Information Coordination Program (WICP) -- purposes of the program are to ensure the availability of water information required for effective decisionmaking for natural resources management and environmental protection and to do it cost effectively.

Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) -- purpose of the program is to understand the processes controlling water, energy, and biogeochemical fluxes over a range of temporal and spatial scales and to understand the interactions of these processes, including the effect of atmospheric and climatic variables.

International

Global Drainage Basins Database -- Currently at the EROS Data Center, UNEP, NASA, and the USGS are developing continental drainage basins from the 30 arc second (~1-km) digital elevation models (DEM). The goals of the project are two-fold. The first goal is to produce the most realistic, verified drainage basins from the DEM. The second goal is to compare the drainage areas from the 30 arec second (~1-km) source to existing basin sources. A comparitive analysis of what drainage source produces the best physical boundary will benefit researchers, scientists, and individuals that use hydrological feature data for modeling, calculating, and assessing environmental problems.
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
Maintainer: Water Webserver Team
Last update: 07:12:13 Fri 25 Jul 2003
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