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LMGWSC Weekly Highlights: 9/11/2017 - 9/15/2017

This page contains the weekly highlights from the Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center for the week of 9/112017 - 9/15/2017! Please take a look and see what we have been up to!

Title:   Interactive water use maps from the Ozarks to the Gulf Coast
What: The USGS publishes water use data aggregated at the county level based on five year intervals. These data are available in report and data download for the Nation, and now, data are available in interactive map form for three groundwater availability studies areas.
The maps provide a clickable interface to display a graph of water use through time for a user-selected water-use category. Available categories are public supply, domestic, livestock, business, and agriculture for both groundwater and surface water. The map may also be updated to display a particular year for a specific category.
The study areas are:


Date:   9/12/2017
Where: Ozarks to the Gulf Coast
Background: Aggregated water use data are often used as the basis for extrapolation of water use in groundwater-flow models. The ability to quickly view the available data in map form assists in understanding the scope and quality of the information and provides an intuitive view for stakeholders in the various study areas.
Partners/Stakeholders: WAUSP
Hill Interest: No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:   NWIS Water Use - https://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/wu
Publication Status:   Published
Points of contact: brian clark, brclark@usgs.gov; wade kress, wkress@usgs.gov, linzy foster, lfoster@usgs.gov; leonard orzol, llorzol@usgs.gov

 

Title: Baton Rouge groundwater commission briefed on preliminary groundwater model results
What: John Lovelace presented preliminary results of a groundwater flow and saltwater transport model to the Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission.  The results included the impacts of hypothetical future pumping on water levels and saltwater encroachment in the "1,500-foot," "2,400-foot," and "2,800-foot" sands of the Baton Rouge area.
Date:   Sept. 12, 2017
Where: USGS Baton Rouge Office
Background: Saltwater is slowly encroaching into the 10 aquifers that supply freshwater to the public and industries in the Baton Rouge area.  The CAGWCC, which oversees water use and conservation in a 5-parish area around Baton Rouge , has partnered with the USGS to develop a computer model that can simulate possible future pumping scenarios.  Results of the scenarios are being used to  guide management decisions, including installation of saltwater scavenger wells and new monitor wells.
Partners/Stakeholders: Capital Area Ground Water Conservation Commission, Louisiana Dept. of Transportation and Development, and Baton Rouge City-Parish Government
Hill Interest:   No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:  
Publication Status:   Unpublished
Points of contact: John Lovelace, 225-298-5481 x3210, jlovelac@usgs.gov
 

Title: LMG Hydrologists attend Northwest Arkansas Water Quality Coordination Meeting
What: LMG Hydrologists Reed Green (Little Rock office) and Dan Wagner (Fayetteville office) attended a water-quality coordination meeting sponsored and organized by Beaver Watershed Alliance.  The purpose of the meeting was to inform agencies about data collection and analysis being performed by other agencies and identify gaps in water quality data collection, analysis, and availability in Northwest Arkansas.  The meeting was attended by representatives from USGS, Arkansas Dept of Environmental Quality, Arkansas Water Resources Center, Arkansas Department of Health, Beaver Water District, Beaver Watershed Alliance, Ozarks Water Watch, and others.
Date:   9/7/2017
Where:  Washington County, AR, Cooperative Extension
Background: Water quality is a hot topic in Northwest Arkansas, with Beaver Lake (White River Watershed) being the drinking water source for more than 450,000 residents in Benton and Washington Counties and the Illinois River, which flows from Northwest Arkansas into Northeast Oklahoma, having been the subject of intense litigation between the two states over excess nutrients from Northwest Arkansas blamed for algal blooms in Lake Tenkiller in Northeast Oklahoma.
Partners/Stakeholders: USGS, Arkansas Dept of Environmental Quality, Arkansas Water Resources Center, Arkansas Department of Health, Beaver Water District, Beaver Watershed Alliance, Ozarks Water Watch, and others.
Hill Interest: No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:  
Publication Status:  
Points of contact: Dan Wagner, dwagner@usgs.gov
 

Title: Hydrologist presents at university seminar series
What: Reed Green was invited to speak at the University of Central Arkansas' Department of Biology, Fall 2017 Research Seminar Series.  "A new era in water-quality management: Are our aging reservoirs promoting cyanoHABs?  A story of unintended consequences; these aren't your father's reservoirs."
Date:   15-Sep-17
Where: University of Central Arkansas, Conway
Background:
Partners/Stakeholders: none
Hill Interest:   Maybe
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:   NA
Publication Status:   Unpublished
Points of contact: Reed Green (wrgreen@usgs.gov)
 

Title: Scientists attend  Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee meeting
What: Associate director, Bill Wolfe, and research biologist, Billy Justus, represented the LMGWSC at the Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee meeting in Memphis from Sept 12-14. The LMRCC meets annually to discuss current ecological issues and accomplishments in the lower section (six state area) of the Mississippi River.
Date:   Sept 12-14
Where: Memphis, TN
Background: 
Partners/Stakeholders: Environmental and Fishery Departments for the six states. USCOE, USFWS, NRCS.
Hill Interest:   No
High Profile/Controversial:No
Publication: NA
Publication Status: Unpublished        
Points of contact: Billy Justus, bjustus@usgs.gov
 

Title:   LMG research scientists leads Vanderbilt University geochemistry field trip
What: Tom Byl with the Nashville LMG office was a guest leader for the Vanderbilt University field geochemistry course, Thursday, Sept 14.  The course had junior level students majoring in earth sciences.  The objective of the course was to provide field experience in geochemistry.  The 8 students and course instructor visited Tom's lab and research sites on the TSU Research Farm in Nashville.  The students visited 4 wells that show very different geochemistry, ranging from aerobic to anaerobic.  They collected water samples from the 4 wells, ran geochemical tests, and placed water-level instruments in the wells.  The students will return twice over the semester to upload the data and collect more geochemical information from the wells. 
Date:   14-Sep-17
Where: TSU Research Farm, Nashville, TN
Background: Training students proper field techniques, instrumentation and experience is important to training top geoscientists.  Students from Vanderbilt will get a chance to learn about karst hydrology, natural sulfide-rich waters, and other geochemical biogeochemical cycles.
Partners/Stakeholders: Vanderbilt University
Hill Interest: No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:  
Publication Status:  
Points of contact: Tom Byl, tdbyl@usgs.gov
 

Title: LMGWSC assists with identifying and surveying high water marks in western Louisiana in response to flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
What: A team from the LMGWSC, made up of Ben McGee, Paul Frederick , Angela Collier, Trent Baldwin, Brandon Anderson, John Storm,  and Allen Roberts, identified and surveyed high water marks in western Louisiana as part of the response to Hurricane Harvey .Paul Ensminger in Baton Rouge helped with data entry. 
Date:   9/4 - 9/8
Where: western Louisiana
Background:
Partners/Stakeholders: FEMA, NWS
Hill Interest:   No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication:   NA
Publication Status:  
Points of contact: Ben McGee, bdmcgee@usgs.gov
 

Title: LMGWSC Hydrologist publishes a reservoir morphology database for the conterminous United States.
What: LMGWSC Hydrologist, Dr. Kirk Rodgers, published a  reservoir morphology database for the conterminous United States along with an accompanying data release. 
Date:   9/13/2017
Where: conterminous United States
Background: From the abstract: "The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership, combined multiple national databases to create one comprehensive national reservoir database and to calculate new morphological metrics for 3,828 reservoirs."
Partners/Stakeholders: Reservoir Fisheries Habitat Partnership
Hill Interest: No
High Profile/Controversial: No
Publication: "Rodgers, K.D., 2017, A Reservoir Morphology Database for the Conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7GF0RQZ
Rodgers, K.D., 2017, A reservoir morphology database for the conterminous United States: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1062, https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1062."
Publication Status: Published
Points of contact: Kirk Rodgers, krodgers@usgs.gov

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