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.
USGS Programs Managed by the Water Resources Discipline:
- 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.
- National Streamflow
Information Program (NSIP) -- 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 Water Quality
Assessment Program (NAWQA) -- Since 1991, USGS scientists
with the NAWQA program have been collecting and analyzing data
and information in more than 50 major river basins and aquifers
across the Nation. The goal is to develop long-term consistent
and comparable information on streams, ground water, and aquatic
ecosystems to support sound management and policy decisions.
The NAWQA program is designed to answer these questions:
- What is the condition of our Nation's streams and ground
water?
- How are these conditions changing over time?
- How do natural features and human activities affect
these conditions?
- 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.
- 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.
- Hydrologic Networks and Analysis (HNA) --
Subprograms:
- Water Information Coordination
Program (WICP) -- ensures the availability of water information
required for effective decisionmaking for natural resources
management and environmental protection and to do it cost effectively.
- 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.
- 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.
- Hydrologic Benchmark
Network (HBN) -- was established in 1963 to provide long-term
measurements of streamflow and water quality in areas that are
minimally affected by human activities. These data were to be
used to study time trends and to serve as controls for separating
natural from artificial changes in other streams. The network
has consisted of as many as 58 drainage basins in 39 States.
- National Research Program (NRP) --
conducts basic and problem oriented hydrologic research in support of the mission of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
- National Water Summary
Program -- a series pf 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."
- Water, Energy, and
Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) -- understands 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.
- 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.
International Programs:
- Cyprus Water Resources Database Development -- This project
met the USGS goal of supporting U.S. foreign policy. It was
requested by the U.S. Ambassador to Cyprus and coordinated
closely through the U.S. Department of State. It took 5 years
of negotiations with senior Cypriot officials, Embassy staff,
U.S. Department of State, and selected United Nations offices
to design and implement this project. The project enabled water
managers on Cyprus to manage their limited water resources
which will directly contribute to enhancement and protection
of the quality of life for Cypriot citizens.
- Public
Awareness and Water Conservation -- The project, which began in 1996,
is part of the Middle East Peace Process and is one of several
projects sponsored by the Multilateral Working Group on Water
Resources. The U.S. Department of State requested the USGS
to undertake this activity and has provided political guidance
throughout the project. The project meets the USGS goal of
supporting U.S. foreign policy and fostering outreach and public
awareness activities.
- Regional
Water Data Banks -- The Executive Action Team Multilateral
Working Group on Water Resources, Water Data Banks Project
consists of a series of specific actions to be taken by the
Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians that are designed
to foster the adoption of common, standardized data collection
and storage techniques among the Parties, improve the quality
of the water resources data collected in the region, and
to improve communication among the scientific community in
the region.
- Ukraine
Streamflow Project --
Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters
in terms of human hardship and economic loss. In Ukraine, two
major floods (one in 1998 and one in 2001) have occurred
in the Tisa River Basin in the last 5 years. Both floods
caused several fatalities, damaged or destroyed several thousand
homes, destroyed bridges and roads, and created severe personal
and economic hardship for the residents of Zakarpattia Oblast
in western Ukraine. Near real-time streamflow data can be
used to forecast and manage floods and improve public safety.
- Ground-Water
Research Program for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab
Emirates -- Since 1988 the USGS has been
partnering with the National Drilling Company (NDC) of the
Abu Dhabi Emirate to collect information on the ground-water
resources of the Emirate, to conduct research on the hydrology
of the arid environment, to provide training in water-resources
investigations, and to document the results of the cooperative
work in scientific publications.
- Botswana - Village Flood Watch --
The Village Flood Watch project, which was completed in 2002,
was designed to help establish an early-warning system for
potential flooding events by adding or upgrading six gauging
stations to near real-time capabilities and providing training
on hydrologic runoff modeling.
- Jordan
Groundwater Management --
The project objective is to enhance current Jordanian technical
capacities for hydrogeologic data and information development,
management and analysis; development and use of ground-water management
models;
and joint design and conduct of outreach workshops and meetings
to increase public understanding of the benefits of local efforts
in
groundwater management and conservation.
- Summary
of Palestinian Hydrologic Data 2000 -- The project provides
a critical tool to the USAID Water Resources Program including
several investigative, developmental, and construction projects,
in the West Bank and Gaza, designed to comprehensively develop,
manage, and protect water resources. This activity demonstrates
the USGS leadership role in the natural sciences and confirms
the mission of providing scientific
information to manage natural resources to enhance and protect
the quality of life.
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