Publications

The State of Illinois is one of the leading contributors of nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. During water years 2016–20, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, operated continuous monitoring stations on eight major rivers in Illinois to better quantify nutrient and sediment...

Alluvial aquifers in Iowa have more wells with nitrate exceeding drinking-water standards than other aquifers; are susceptible to contamination by organic contaminants; and have high concentrations of naturally occurring iron and manganese in depositional areas that contain abundant organic matter. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, studied...

Public concern regarding per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has grown substantially in recent years. In addition, research has documented multiple potential agriculture-related release pathways for PFAS (e.g., biosolids and livestock manure). Nevertheless, little research on the environmental prevalence of PFAS has been conducted in agricultural regions of the United States. To...

Autonomous underwater vehicles are uniquely designed to provide spatially dense water-quality data along with bathymetry and velocimetry. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 requested technical assistance from the U.S. Geological Survey in support of ongoing investigations at the Chemical Recovery Systems site to collect spatially dense water-quality and bathymetry data in...

The selection of optimum sampling configurations to measure the aspects of turbulent flow of water depends on the variable being measured, the applied measurement technique, the degree of environmental noise, and flow characteristics in and near the sampling location. This work presents a method to dynamically select the exposure time (SET) during the flow-velocity measurement at each...

Between July 2011 and February 2013, the City of Cedar Rapids observed water level declines in their horizontal collector wells approaching 11 meters. As a result, pumping from these production wells had to be halted, and questions were raised about the reliability of the alluvial aquifer under future drought conditions. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Cedar...

Influenza A viruses (IAVs) deposited by wild birds into the environment may lead to sporadic mortality events and economically costly outbreaks among domestic birds. There is a paucity of information, however, regarding the persistence of infectious IAVs within the environment following deposition. In this investigation, we assessed the persistence of 12 IAVs that were present in the...

The Black River flows through southeast Missouri and northeast Arkansas to its confluence with the White River in Arkansas. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers operates Clearwater Dam on the Black River and a series of dams in the White River Basin primarily for flood control. In this study, the hydrology and geomorphology of the Black River are examined through an analysis of annual mean...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, collects data pertaining to the surface-water resources of Missouri. Established in 1964, the Ambient Water-Quality Monitoring Network (AWQMN) consisted of 69 sites in 2017. Two additional sites from the National Water-Quality Program are included with the AWQMN sites for the analyses in this...

Evolving complex mixtures of pharmaceuticals and transformation products in effluent-dominated streams pose potential impacts to aquatic species; thus, understanding the attenuation dynamics in the field and characterizing the prominent attenuation mechanisms of pharmaceuticals and their transformation products (TPs) is critical for hazard assessments. Herein, we determined the...

Phytotoxins are naturally produced toxins with potencies similar/higher than many anthropogenic micropollutants. Nevertheless, little is known regarding their environmental fate and off-field transport to streams. To fill this research gap, a network of six basins in the Midwestern United States with substantial soybean production was selected for the study. Stream water (n = 110)...

A two-dimensional hydraulic model; water-surface profiles; and digital maps of water-surface elevation, velocities, and water depths were developed for a 6.7-mile reach of Joachim Creek within and near the city of De Soto, Missouri. Water-surface profiles were generated for the 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, and 0.2-percent annual exceedance probability (10-, 25-, 50-, 100-, and 500-year recurrence...