Surface Water

As part of their mission to protect public health and aquatic ecosystems, Alabama state agencies need accurate and representative streamflow statistics to establish realistic and applicable criteria for both water quality and water quantity (fig. 1). Historically, low-flow statistics, such as the annual minimum 7-day average flow that likely will occur, on average, once every 10 years (7Q10), have...

Ride along as USGS scientists Richard Coupe and Joe Schatz sample the Missouri River near Hermann, Missouri. To view the video click here.

Heather Welch, Claire Rose, and Richard Coupe, U.S. Geological Survey scientists involved in the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Study of Agricultural Chemical Transport (ACT) study, outline agricultural effects on water quality in the Mississippi Delta region. Topics include research results on nutrient modeling using the SPARROW model, environmental effects of biofuel production, and...

Static flood-inundation map libraries consist of maps that have been created in advance of a flood that are ready to be served through the Internet. Each library consists of a set of flood extent and depth maps developed for predetermined stream stage intervals (for example, a map for each one foot of stage). A user can view real-time or forecast stage data from a USGS streamgage or National...

StreamStats is a Web-based tool that provides streamflow statistics, drainage-basin characteristics, and other information for USGS streamgaging stations and for user-selected ungaged sites on streams. When users select the location of a streamgaging station, StreamStats provides previously published information from a database. When users select a site on an ungaged stream, StreamStats will...

Short Title: Arkansas StreamStats Implementation Project Chief: Aaron Pugh Cooperator: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Little Rock District, Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service, USDA-US Forest Service Project Time Frame: October 2009 - September 2012 The need exists to distribute to users critical...

The USGS-MWSC partners with various federal, state and local cooperating agencies to implement Monitoring Plans for watershed restoration or protection projects. The purpose of monitoring is to measure change in water quality throughout the duration of watershed specific restoration efforts targeted to remediate specific pollutants of concern. The goal is to document, using defensible scientific...

T-LiDAR technology utilizes reflected laser pulses sent from a tripod-mounted scanning instrument to determine distances to targets of interest. The resulting dataset is a 3 dimensional model or "point cloud" of millions of XYZ data points, spaced only a few millimeters apart. This highly detailed dataset is used by USGS scientists to create topographic models, make detailed measurements, and...

The USGS is summarizing basic information on water resources for each parish in Louisiana and presenting the information in fact-sheet format. Information presented includes groundwater and surface-water availability, quality, development, use, and trends. These brief summaries of water resources will provide parish officials, local officials and concerned citizens with information needed to make...

The live oaks framing Toomer's Corner in Auburn, Alabama were planted about 1880 and have served as a focal point for Auburn celebrations in recent decades. The trees recently received a powerful dose of an herbicide known as Spike 80DF. In an effort to save the trees, a task force made up of university horticulturists, landscapers, agronomists, engineers, chemists and others has undertaken a...

Various environmental groups in Alabama are concerned that the use of culverts at highway crossings to convey stream flows has detrimental effects on the natural conditions of streams. Specifically, some groups are concerned that changes in stream geomorphology, sediment concentrations, and associated turbidity adversely impact the benthic macroinvertebrate community when culverts are constructed...

In 2002, the Davis Pond Freshwater Diversion began diverting up to 10,000 cfs of Mississippi River water into the waters surrounding the Barataria Preserve of the Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve. Previously, precipitation, local surface-water runoff, and occasional marine intrusion largely determined quality of surface and marsh porewaters at the Preserve. The new influx of...