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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Welcome to the USGS website that provides access to water resources information for the USGS Lower Mississippi-Gulf 5 State Water Science Center. Our center encompasses Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee including all of the unique water resources contained within! If you are seeking Real-Time Water Data for the states we serve please click the button below. 

News

Unlocking Arkansas' Hidden Treasure: USGS Uses Machine Learning to Show Large Lithium Potential in the Smackover Formation

Unlocking Arkansas' Hidden Treasure: USGS Uses Machine Learning to Show Large Lithium Potential in the Smackover Formation

USGS experts responding simultaneously to two major natural hazards

USGS experts responding simultaneously to two major natural hazards

Keeping it Green with Winter Cover Crops

Keeping it Green with Winter Cover Crops

Publications

Science needs for determining the effects of climate change on harmful algal blooms in the southeastern United States

The Southeastern United States has many lakes, streams, and reservoirs that serve as important drinking water sources with recreational, agricultural, and ecological uses. However, harmful algal blooms (HABs) are becoming more common in these waters, causing health issues for humans and animals. HABs have been listed as a contaminant of emerging concern, and the magnitude, frequency, and...
Authors
Tom D. Byl, Devin M. Moore, Champagne Cunningham, De’Etra Young

Dynamic rating method for computing discharge and stage from time-series data

Ratings are used for several reasons in water-resources investigations. The simplest rating relates discharge to the stage of a river (the stage-discharge relation). From a pure hydrodynamics perspective, all rivers and streams have some form of hysteresis in the relation between stage and discharge because flow becomes unsteady as a flood wave passes. The stage-discharge relation is...
Authors
Marian M. Domanski, Robert R. Holmes, Jr., Elizabeth N. Heal, Travis M. Knight

Impact of thermoelectric power plant operations and water use reporting methods on thermoelectric power plant water use

Thermoelectric power generation accounts for over 41% of total U.S. freshwater withdrawals, making understanding the determinants of power plants’ water withdrawals (WW) and consumption (WC) critical for reducing the sector’s reliance on increasingly scarce water resources. However, reported data inconsistencies and incomplete analysis of potential determinants of thermoelectric water...
Authors
Eric Sjostedt, Richard Rushforth, Vincent Tidwell, Melissa A. Harris, Ryan McManamay, Landon Marston

Science

Mobile River Basin Study

The Mobile River Basin in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee is one of the 59 study units that are part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources, and to provide a sound...
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Mobile River Basin Study

The Mobile River Basin in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee is one of the 59 study units that are part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources, and to provide a sound...
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A National Predictive Model for PFAS Occurrence in Groundwater

In October of 2024, USGS Scientist’s published a study where they created a model to predict PFAS occurrence in groundwater at the depths of drinking water supplies. This model can help guide our partners to sample areas where PFAS in drinking water could be an issue for the public.
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Chesapeake Bay Land Use and Land Cover data is now published in additional formats

The Chesapeake Bay Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) database was developed by the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory in cooperation with Chesapeake Conservancy (CC) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The high-resolution land data were developed as part of a 6-year Cooperative Agreement between Chesapeake Conservancy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a separate...
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Chesapeake Bay Land Use and Land Cover data is now published in additional formats

The Chesapeake Bay Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) database was developed by the University of Vermont’s Spatial Analysis Laboratory in cooperation with Chesapeake Conservancy (CC) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The high-resolution land data were developed as part of a 6-year Cooperative Agreement between Chesapeake Conservancy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a separate...
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