Surface Water

USGS continuous water-quality monitoring and discrete sampling is an integral component for understanding pre-, during, and post-WID water-quality conditions and the impacts on the surrounding ecosystems.

The Kansas River provides recreational and industrial uses, food procurement, groundwater recharge, irrigation, livestock water use, and drinking water to more than 950,000 people in northeastern Kansas. Water-quality concerns related to excessive chloride, bromide, nutrient, sediment, and bacteria concentrations have been identified by the State, several water suppliers that use the Kansas River...

In October 2020, The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), began long‐term in‐stream monitoring downstream from the headwaters of Soldier Creek, a KDHE identified basin with a high probability of large‐scale implementation (more than 50% of area) of soil health best management practices (BPMs) to quantify potential changes in streamflow...

The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation (PBPN) in Jackson County, Kansas lies within the Big Soldier and Little Soldier Creek basins. The PBPN needs surface and groundwater quality and quantity data for water management purposes and for developing and implementing a water quality program to protect the water of the reservation for the benefit of current and future generations. In January 2020, The U.S...

Targeted sampling in selected slow-moving streams, wetlands, and oxbows to receiving reservoirs and rivers will allow us to better characterize the hydrologic, water-quality, and biological conditions present during the formation and transport of potentially toxic cyanobacteria blooms.

The Kansas River provides drinking water for multiple cities in northeastern Kansas and is used for recreational purposes. Thus, improving the scientific knowledge of streamflow velocities and traveltimes will greatly aid in water-treatment plans and response to critical events and threats to water supplies. Dye-tracer studies are usually done to enhance knowledge of transport characteristics...

The USGS Kansas Water Science Center, in cooperation with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), has been studying the extreme cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cyanoHABS) occurring annually in Milford Lake. CyanoHABs on Milford Lake have impacted local businesses economically, and there have been documented human illnesses and animal deaths associated with the blooms...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1879, to provide a per­manent Federal agency to perform the systematic and scientific "classification of the public lands, and examination of the geologic structure, mineral resources, and products of the national domain." Surface-water activities of the USGS in Kansas are part of the Survey’s Water Mission Area’s...

An understanding of river- and stream-channel geomorphic responses to various human-caused and natural disturbances is important for effective management, conservation, and rehabilitation of rivers and streams to accommodate multiple, often conflicting, needs. Channel changes may have implications for the protection of property and structures, water supply, navigation, and habitat. The channel...

Johnson County, a suburban part of the Kansas City metropolitan area, is one of the most populated counties in Kansas with 544,000 people in 2010, a 21 percent increase in population since 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Located in northeastern Kansas, about one-half of the county is urban. Urban, industrial, and agricultural land uses affect the quality of streams and lakes in the...

An understanding of the quantity and quality of sediment deposited in a reservoir is necessary for effective reservoir and basin management. Sedimentation affects the useful life of a reservoir for such important purposes as flood control, water supply, and recreation. Sediment quality is an important environmental concern because sediment may act as a sink for various water-quality constituents...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Johnson County Stormwater Management Program has studied sediment transport in Johnson County streams and lakes to better understand how changes from agricultural to urban land use alter sediment in streams and lakes, characterize how these uses may affect lake storage and biological integrity of streams, and evaluate the effectiveness of...