Publications

The use of the phrase “harmful algal bloom” and the acronym HAB originated in the marine science world, and referred to blooms also known as red tides, which can kill fish and sea life. The organisms that make up marine HABs generally do not thrive in lakes. In freshwater, HABs are most often associated with blooms of toxin-producing cyanobacteria. The term HAB started to be used broadly in the ea

The City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, depends on groundwater from the Cedar River alluvial aquifer for residential and industrial use. In 2020, the city completed an additional radial collector well, or Ranney well, and was concerned that pumping from the well at high rates may lower water level elevations in the aquifer, reduce yields from nearby production wells, and change the quality of produced wat

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, maintains a statewide group of stations known as the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network, which includes selected streams and springs in Missouri. During water year 2021 (October 1, 2020, through September 30, 2021), the U.S. Geological Survey collected water-quality data at 72 stations: 70 Ambient W

IntroductionThe Delaware River Basin provides drinking water to 13.3 million people and supports endangered species, provides recreational opportunities, and is an essential resource to regional industries. The efforts of Federal and State governments have substantially improved overall water quality in the basin, which had been severely degraded prior to the mid-20th century. Recent trend analyse

Bathymetric data were collected at 10 water-supply lakes in north-central and west-central Missouri by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and in collaboration with various local agencies, as part of a multiyear effort to establish or update the surface area and capacity tables for the surveyed lakes. The lakes were surveyed in June an

Bathymetric and velocimetric data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, near 15 bridges at 10 highway crossings of the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers near Washington, Louisiana, and St. Louis, Missouri, on August 3–10, 2020. A multibeam echosounder mapping system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for river reaches abou

Acoustic instrumentation can be used to provide time-series and discrete estimates of suspended-sediment concentration, load, and sediment particle sizes in fluvial systems, which are essential for creating informed solutions to many sediment-related environmental, engineering, and land management concerns. Historically, scientists have developed relations between suspended sediment characteristic

The presence of fish within navigation locks can introduce an environmental challenge for construction crews when maintenance is required. This study examined the effectiveness of a dual-deterrent fish herding technique using electricity and acoustic stimuli to reduce the abundance of fish within a navigation lock before a scheduled dewatering for maintenance. Fixed-location multi-beam imaging so

Researchers routinely study streamflow data to understand the effects of natural climate variability and anthropogenic climate change, and to develop methods for estimating streamflow at ungaged locations. These studies require streamflow data that are not modified or largely altered by other anthropogenic activities, such as reservoirs or diversions. This report discusses a method for identifying

The city of Wildwood, Missouri, has identified fluvial erosion along Caulks Creek as a management priority due to potential effects to infrastructure and property. The upper and middle reaches of Caulks Creek flow intermittently (only immediately after precipitation), whereas the lower reach flows perennially. This study examines the effects of climate change and added storage on the hydrologic an

A multi-agency study of 438 organic and 62 inorganic chemicals measured in urban stormwater during 50 total runoff events at 21 sites across the United States demonstrated that stormwater discharges can generate localized, aquatic exposures to extensive contaminant mixtures, including organics suspected to cause adverse aquatic-health effects. The aggregated risks to multiple aquatic trophic level

Flood-frequency analysis is essential in numerous water-resource management applications, including critical structure design and flood-plain mapping. A basic assumption within Bulletin 17C [1], the standardized guidelines for conducting flood-frequency analysis, is that basins without major hydrologic alterations, such as regulation or urbanization, exhibit stationary statistical properties of th