Diagram showing how precipitation water soaks into the ground and, depending of the layers of rock below ground, can take from days to millennia to get back into surface waters.

Groundwater — Right underneath our feet

March 10-16 is National Groundwater Awareness Week, when we give special recognition to one of our nation’s most valuable resources — groundwater.

Groundwater affects everyone.  It supplies the drinking water for nearly half our nation’s population and provides about 40 percent of our irrigation water.  It sustains streamflow between precipitation events and during protracted dry periods. And it helps maintain a variety of aquatic ecosystems that are dependent on groundwater discharge to streams, lakes, and wetlands.

Groundwater is a part of our daily lives.  Rural farmers and urbanites, water-supply managers and regulators, researchers and policy-makers all have a part to play in the current status and future of our groundwater resources.  This valuable resource is right underneath our feet.

Groundwater Challenges

The USGS strives to understand the dynamics of the many demands for groundwater from both human and environmental uses.  Understanding these dynamics helps answer important questions about current groundwater availability and long-term sustainability.

In many states, groundwater is a vital source of irrigation water for farmers.

Groundwater is everywhere, but its availability varies. Groundwater availability can be compared to a bank account.  An underground aquifer, a resource shared by many users, receives deposits from precipitation and surface water. The many users make withdrawals from the aquifer to irrigate farmlands or supply wells.  If there are too many withdrawals, and not enough steady deposits, there isn’t enough groundwater in the aquifer to go around.

Even when water is plentiful, it’s not truly available unless the quality is acceptable for the intended use.  Both water quantity and quality are essential to maintaining water supply for municipal, domestic, agricultural, and recreational use and for aquatic ecosystems.

Quantity Assessments

The USGS has a legacy of groundwater assessment, publishing the first national assessment of groundwater in the early 1900s.  The USGS is working toward determining water availability in 30-40 major aquifers as part of a national water census.  These aquifer assessments provide objective scientific information about the effects of human activities on water levels, groundwater storage, and discharge to surface-water bodies and explore how climate variability could affect groundwater availability.

Various regional USGS groundwater studies either complete, planned or in progress

Many states are experiencing groundwater decline in places where withdrawals have increased largely in response to economic and population growth.  Many regions in states such as Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Louisiana, Texas and Illinois have experienced lowered groundwater levels by as much as several hundred feet.  In other locations, increased withdrawals have caused saline groundwater to encroach inland.  Extensive groundwater pumping has resulted in land-surface subsidence and sinkholes.  The USGS has recently released a scientific study illustrating  how increased groundwater withdrawals can result in streamflow depletion.  The stress of increased demands on groundwater resources – for domestic supply, municipal supply, irrigation and industrial uses – has decreased availability in some areas.

Quality Assessments

In parallel, USGS groundwater quality assessments assist water-quality managers and regulators in making decisions about monitoring needs and drinking water issues.  The USGS collaborates with other federal, state, and local drinking water programs to conduct extensive monitoring for regulatory and compliance purposes.  The whole of the nation’s groundwater can be divided into 62 principal aquifers; these provide one-third of the Nation’s population their drinking water from public supply systems and 15 percent of the Nation’s population with drinking water  from private domestic wells.  Each aquifer can cover multiple states, yet management decisions are made on the local level.  USGS groundwater quality assessments provide that large-scale perspective on each aquifer, providing consistent information needed by decision-makers.

Cascading aerator at aquifer storage and recovery plant (credit: Cassi L. Otero, USGS)

USGS groundwater quality assessments have shown that many aquifers contain low concentrations of at least one contaminant.  Nitrate and man-made contaminants like insecticides and gasoline chemicals were at levels of potential human-health risk

USGS data assists in conservation

USGS groundwater assessments help inform the public so that citizens across the nation can engage in best practices for management, protection, and conservation.  Groundwater conservation is a matter of both conserving the quantity and protecting the quality from contamination.

Everyone can take steps to do their part.  Excessive well water withdrawals lower the water-level to the point of having to drill deeper to reach water, which can become increasingly expensive to maintain.  To conserve groundwater, individuals can identify routines where water use is highest and where it can be limited.  Individuals can also take steps to prevent groundwater contamination:  1) position wellheads a safe distance from potential contamination; 2) update septic system inspection and cleaning; 3) conduct annual well inspections; 4) properly dispose of hazardous materials; 5) decommission any abandoned wells using a professional.

USGS groundwater availability studies make up an integral part of the Department of Interior’s WaterSMART, which is helping water resource planners and managers tackle America’s water challenges by providing funding, leveraging partnerships, and commissioning projects specifically aimed at understanding and conserving water.  DOI recently released a three-year progress report for WaterSMART, showing that the program is saving water, finding better ways to use water resources more efficiently, and helping partners plan to meet future water demands.

The USGS is dedicated to providing the public with unbiased, timely and relevant information about the Nation’s groundwater resources.  More information on USGS groundwater data, products, publications, and news can be found at the USGS Groundwater Resources  information pages.

USGS Scientist Paul Hsieh, 2011 Federal Employee of the Year

The USGS scientist Dr. Paul Hsieh was named Federal Employee of the Year, highlighting the value of our science to the Nation. Hsieh was recognized by the Partnership for Public Servicefor his timely scientific analysis that convinced Federal leaders responding to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill that the cap placed over the Macondo well was working, allowing for a safe shutdown.

DOI Assistant Secretary Anne Castle Christens the USGS R/V Kaho. The Kaho is one of two sister ships that will begin research work in the Great Lakes.

USGS scientists worked on several regional and national issues. We contributed to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, including new treatment tools to help control Asian carp, an invasive species, and launch of new research vessels being deployed to understand the deep-water ecosystems and fishes of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. USGS water quality monitoring and analysis, and water availability monitoring is taking place in waterways across the Nation at seven pilot locations that are part of the Urban Waters Federal Partnership: the Anacostia, Patapsco, Harlem, Bronx, and Los Angeles watersheds; the South Platte River, and the Lake Pontchartrain area. In the Grand Canyon, USGS science on uranium resources, hydrology, and the past impacts of mining informed the decision to withdraw Federal lands around the Grand Canyon from new mining claims. USGS science also played a significant role in Department of the Interior Natural Resource Damage Assessmentsettlements including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Tyrone Mine area in New Mexico.

Wind turbines at certain sites in North America each cause dozens of bat fatalities per year.

On the new energy frontier the USGS continues to lead the way in the Department of the Interior with the release of “Wind Energy in the United States and Materials Required for the Land Based Wind Turbine Industry from 2010 Through 2030.” The data suggest that, with the exception of rare earth elements, there should not be a shortage of the principal materials required for electricity generation from wind energy. In the area of wind and wildlife, our scientists are using near-infrared videography to monitor and research bat activity at wind turbines, as a side effect of the expansion of wind energy is increased bird and bat mortality at turbines. We also continue to focus on conventional sources of energy development, evidenced in our summary report of the science needs for conventional energy development for the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. In the area of unconventional gas, the USGS worked with the Department of Energy and provided information for their report on the needed reforms for unconventional gas production, and the USGS is working with the Environmental Protection Agency and DOE on a strategy to fill those research gaps.

A submarine berg emerges from the advancing terminus of Yahtse Glacier. Iceberg calving is a key process in the global sea level budget.

In the area of climate change, the USGS completed the establishment of the eight climate science centers across the country with universities and consortia in Alaska, Colorado, Massachusetts, Oregon, Hawaii, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Arizona. We also completed a study measuring the amount of stored carbon in the ecosystems of the Great Plains. This study was the first regional report that applied a comprehensive methodology designed by the USGS in 2010.

Scientists hike up the Little Colorado River to assist in installing remote PIT tag readers to more efficiently keep track of native, endangered fish populations.

Water continues to be a contentious issue in various parts of the country. In 2011, the USGS launched a geographic focus study on the Colorado River basin, part of the WaterSMART availability and land use assessment, a three-year study that will provide an inventory of water supply and demand. The effort includes assessing water needed to support ecosystems and will report significant competition over water resources and the factors causing the competition. Water information can also be sent to your email inbox or your phone, thanks to WaterAlert. This tool allows users to be notified daily of water levels at any of our 7,600 real-time streamgages across the country. Addressing the Nation’s water resource challenges is a priority for the USGS, and in 2011 we formed an innovative partnership to do just that with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This partnership will provide a one-stop portal to integrated water information for stakeholders with forecasts showing where water for drinking, industry, and ecosystems will be available.

Josh Latimore stands in front of Burney Falls. Latimore started at the USGS as a summer intern and now serves as a USGS hydrologic technician while pursuing his bachelor of science.

The USGS engaged in a wide array of youth activities nationwide in 2011. From the collaboration with GeoFORCE at the University of Texas-Austin, to the National Cooperative Geologic Mapping Program’s EDMAP training component, to the Rocky Mountain Science and Sustainability Summer Academy (RMSSN). GeoFORCE engages minority high school students in the earth sciences, the EDMAP encourages high school graduates of this program to continue to work with the USGS throughout their college careers, and RMSSN provides training in field observation, data entry, and scientific communication to diverse students.

This map shows the various reported levels of shaking around Oklahoma City after the November 5 M5.6 earthquake

The Great Central U.S. ShakeOut drill, held in April of 2011, is just one example of the USGS’s role in preparing for and responding to natural hazards. Another example is the National Earthquake Information Center’s provision of real-time data to on the magnitude and potential damage of the August earthquake in Virginia, and the November earthquake and aftershocks in Oklahoma. To better monitor aftershocks, mobile seismic monitors were deployed, bringing the total of earthquake sensors in the Advanced National Seismic System to over 2,200. Flooding was also a concern last year, with more than 30 states affected. To educate Congress about the 2011 floods, we conducted a congressional briefing titled “2011 — The Year of the Flood?” For more than 100 years the USGS has played a critical role in reducing flood losses by operating a nationwide streamgage network that monitors the water level and flow of the Nation’s rivers and streams. This information was critical to the Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to simultaneously open the Mississippi River floodgates for the first time.

The 2006 image (left) show the river in a more normal state, while the 2011 image (right) shows the massive flooding. The dark blue tones represent water or flooded areas, the light green is cleared fields, and light tones are clouds.

During the heavy flooding that occurred on the Mississippi River, Missouri River, and other major waterways, the USGS’s Landsat satellites produced images of the affected areas to provide an overview of the situation. Landsat has often helped provide a big-picture perspective on natural hazards both domestic and foreign and ranging from tornados to tsunamis to wildfires. Landsat is a joint effort of both USGS and NASA. In addition to imagery of natural hazard events, Landsat provides valuable data for land use research and advances the Department of the Interior’s important role in land remote sensing under the President’s National Space Policy. Landsat images provide complete global coverage, they are available for free, and they span nearly 40 years of continuous earth observation. No other satellite imagery has that combination of attributes. To date, over 6 million scenes have been downloaded; over 2.6 million were downloaded in 2011.

These highlights are but a few of the USGS’s significant accomplishments and activities in 2011. Keep up with what we do in 2012 by visiting www.usgs.gov and following us on Twitter @usgs or on Facebook.

Gagehouse at 06225500 Wind River near Crowheart WY right before it washed away.

Collage of a marsh, girl drinking, and USGS employees using a stream gage.

The 21st century brings a new set of water resource challenges. Even in normal water years, water shortages and use conflicts have become commonplace in many areas of the United States –– especially competition among crop irrigation, growing cities and communities, and energy production. Over the next 10 years, the USGS plans to conduct a new assessment of water availability and use. This national Water Census will address critical aspects of recent Federal legislation, including the need to establish a national water assessment program.

Time: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 7:00-8:00 PM

Speaker: Eric J. Evenson

Location: 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive Reston, VA 20192

Phone:  703-648-4748

Please Note: This event takes place at a Federal Facility — Photo Id is Required

FREE and Open to the Public

Follow this event live on Twitter @USGSLive

This announcement and directions can be found online.

Requests for accommodations (i.e. sign language interpreting) require notice at least two weeks before the event. Please email jcorley@usgs.gov or call 703-648-7770.

The USGS public lectures are held monthly in Reston, Virginia. These evening events are free to the public and intended to familiarize a general audience with science issues that are meaningful to their daily lives. USGS speakers are selected for their ability and enthusiasm to share their expertise with an audience that may be unfamiliar with the topic; speakers are encouraged to thoroughly explain the subject matter and to define any words or terms that may be unfamiliar.

The USGS lecture series provides the public an opportunity to interact with USGS scientists and ask questions about recent developments in Natural Hazards; Water; Energy Minerals and Environmental Health; Climate and Land Use Change; Ecosystems; and Core Science Systems. Ultimately, the goal is to create a better understanding of the importance and value of USGS science in action.

Lake Klamath

The Department of the Interior has established a new website to find and share websites that provide water conservation and sustainability information.

Read more at the WaterSMART Clearinghouse website.