Publications

Ten years ago, the upper Mississippi River Basin in the Midwestern United States experienced the costliest flood in the history of the United States. The flood came to be known as “ The Great Flood of 1993.”

This report presents miscellaneous geologic, hydrologic, and ground-water-quality data collected in and near Belvidere, Ill. during May 2001–November 2002. The data were collected for two studies conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey during 1990–2002, but subsequent to publication of the final interpretive reports for the studies. The cooperative studies with the U.S. Environmental...

Groundwater vulnerability is a central concept in pollution risk assessment, yet its estimation has been largely a matter of expert judgment. This work applies a method for the direct calculation of vulnerability from monitoring well observations of pesticide concentrations. The method has two major advantages: it is independent of the compounds being examined, and it has a direct...

The Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge (hereafter referred to as the Refuge), located on the Missouri River floodplain in northwest Missouri, was established in 1935 to provide habitat for migratory birds and wildlife. Results of 1937 and 1964 topographic surveys indicate that sedimenta-tion, primarily from Squaw Creek and Davis Creek inflows, had substantially reduced Refuge pool...

Lake Delhi was formed in 1929 when the Interstate Power Company dammed the Maquoketa River near Delhi, Iowa, for generation of hydroelectric power. The resulting 450-acre lake became a popular area in eastern Iowa for boating, swimming, and fishing. Hydroelectric power generation ended in 1973, and lakeside residents purchased the dam to maintain the recreational opportunities of the...

Densities of fecal coliform bacteria along a 5.7-mi (mile) reach of Shoal Creek extending upstream from State Highway 97 (site 3) to State Highway W (site 2) and in two tributaries along this reach exceeded the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) standard of 200 col/100 mL (colonies per 100 milliliters) for whole-body contact recreation. A combination of techniques was used...

In 1998, an 8-mile reach of the Jacks Fork was included on Missouri's list of impaired waters as required by Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean Water Act. The identified pollutant on the Jacks Fork was fecal coliform bacteria. Potential sources of fecal contamination to the Jacks Fork include a wastewater treatment plant; campground pit-toilet or septic-system effluent; a large...

On July 5, 2001, approximately 50,000 gallons of partially treated wastewater was accidentally discharged from the Mountain View wastewater-treatment plant in Howell County, Missouri, into nearby Jam Up Creek. The creek is a tributary of the Jacks Fork, a recreational stream administered by the National Park Service (NPS) as part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways in southeastern...

The city of Independence, Missouri, operates a well field in the Missouri River alluvial aquifer. Steady-state ground-water flow simulation, particle tracking, and the use of chemical and isotopic composition of river water, ground water, and well-field pumpage in a two-component mixing equation were used to determine the source contributions of induced inflow from the Missouri River and...

No abstract available.

A recent study by the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) shows that a broad range of chemicals found in residential, industrial, and agricultural wastewaters commonly occurs in mixtures at low concentrations downstream from areas of intense urbanization and animal production. The chemicals include human and veterinary drugs (including antibiotics)...

Standing ready to defend our country or to assure mutual destruction, the mid-west’s contribution to nuclear proliferation of the 60s and 70s resided innocuously beneath concrete slabs in Missouri’s cornfields. In June 1961, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) implemented a plan to place 150 intercontinental ballistic missiles in west-central Missouri. The missile was the solid...