Idaho Water Science Center
Publications
The following is a list of our publications available from the USGS Publications Warehouse. If you cannot find what you are looking for, please contact our Public Information Officer, Tim Merrick, at trmerrick@usgs.gov or 208-387-1305.
Groundwater quality and nutrient trends near Marsing, southwestern Idaho, 2018
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, sampled groundwater from 15 wells during spring 2018 near the city of Marsing in rural northwestern Owyhee County, southwestern Idaho. Samples were analyzed for field parameters, nutrients, trace elements, major inorganics, and dissolved gas, including...
Skinner, Kenneth D.
Point-source nutrient loads to streams of the conterminous United States, 2012
Total nitrogen and phosphorous loads were estimated for 5,430 major point-source facilities (all types) and 11,537 minor wastewater treatment facilities discharging to streams in the conterminous United States during 2012. Facilities classified as a major discharger are typically a facility that discharges greater than one million gallons of water...
Skinner, Kenneth D.; Maupin, Molly A.
Bridge scour countermeasure assessments at select bridges in the United States, 2016–18
In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration published Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 23 (HEC-23) to provide specific design and implementation guidelines for bridge scour and stream instability countermeasures. However, the effectiveness of countermeasures implemented over the past decade following those guidelines has not been evaluated....
Dudunake, Taylor J.; Huizinga, Richard J.; Fosness, Ryan L.
Sediment transport monitoring of the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River near Stanley, Idaho, 2012–15
The Yankee Fork of the Salmon River is one of the larger watersheds in the upper Salmon River subbasin of central Idaho. Mining activities since the late 19th century, specifically placer mining and associated dredging from 1940 to 1953, have left the fluvial system in a highly altered and unnatural state. To improve aquatic and terrestrial...
Johnsen, James W.
Understanding the captivity effect on invertebrate communities transplanted into an experimental stream laboratory
Little is known about how design and testing methodologies affect the macroinvertebrate communities that are held captive in mesocosms. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a 32‐d test to determine how seeded invertebrate communities changed once removed from the natural stream and introduced to the laboratory. We evaluated larvae survival...
Schmidt, Travis S.; Rogers, Holly; Miller, Janet L.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Balistrieri, Laurie S.
Completion summary for borehole TAN-2312 at Test Area North, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho
In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy, drilled and constructed borehole TAN-2312 for stratigraphic framework analyses and long-term groundwater monitoring of the eastern Snake River Plain aquifer at the Idaho National Laboratory in southeast Idaho. The location of borehole TAN-2312 was selected...
Twining, Brian V.; Bartholomay, Roy C.; Hodges, Mary K. V. Streamflow contributions from tribal lands to major river basins of the United States
While many studies on tribal water resources of individual tribal lands in the United States (US) have been conducted, the importance of tribal water resources at a national scale has largely gone unrecognized because their combined totals have not been quantified. Thus, we sought to provide a numerical estimate of major water budget components on...
Blasch, Kyle; Hundt, Stephen; Wurster, Patrick; Sando, Thomas R.; Berthelote, Antony
Mercury concentrations in water and mercury and selenium concentrations in fish from Brownlee Reservoir and selected sites in the Boise and Snake Rivers, Idaho and Oregon, 2013-17
Mercury (Hg) analyses were conducted on samples of water and sport fish collected from selected sampling sites in the Boise and Snake Rivers and Brownlee Reservoir, in Idaho and Oregon, to meet National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System permit requirements for the City of Boise, Idaho, from 2013 to 2017. City of Boise personnel collected...
MacCoy, Dorene E.; Mebane, Christopher A.
Spatial and temporal trends in selenium in the upper Blackfoot River watershed, southeastern Idaho, 2001–16
Phosphate mining in southeastern Idaho has been an important economic driver for the region and State for over 100 years, but weathering of mining waste rock has also released selenium into the Blackfoot River. This report analyzes and presents data from three separate but complementary studies monitoring selenium in streams in the region. The U.S...
Zinsser, Lauren M.; Mebane, Christopher A.; Mladenka, Greg C.; Van Every, Lynn R.; Williams, Marshall L.
Coeur d’Alene Basin Environmental Monitoring Program, surface water, northern Idaho—Annual data summary, water year 2017
Streams within the Coeur d’Alene River drainage basin in northern Idaho have been extensively affected by historical mining activities and are subject to ongoing remedial actions as part of the Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical Complex Superfund Site. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) operates 12 real-time streamgages and collects surface-...
Zinsser, Lauren M.
Idaho water use, 2015
The ability to quantify water resources hinges on the understanding of water use by the population. The demand humans place on the water cycle varies across the United States, driven by both need and availability. The U.S. Geological Survey quantifies water use nationally, at the county scale, with estimates of water withdrawals and deliveries, by...
Murray, Erin M.
Estimates of water use and trends in the Colorado River Basin, Southwestern United States, 1985–2010
The Colorado River Basin (CRB) drains 246,000 square miles and includes parts of California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and all of Arizona (Basin States). This report contains water-use estimates by category of use for drainage basins (Hydrologic Unit Code 8; HUC‑8) within the CRB from 1985 to 2010, at 5-year intervals....
Maupin, Molly A.; Ivahnenko, Tamara I.; Bruce, Breton