Water Sustainability

The Water Cycle Center is a cooperation between U.S. Geological Survey and academic partners in the Northeast that studies complete water cycles and watersheds, from mountaintops to shorelines, concentrating on freshwater ecosystems. This research advances the understanding of processes that determine water availability and is needed to best address future water resource challenges.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center, in cooperation with Acadia National Park, is assessing the vulnerability of the park’s streams, culverts, and bridges to flood damage and erosion using design flows for selected high streamflow recurrence intervals to inform management decisions on infrastructure upgrades.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) New England Water Science Center, in cooperation with the National Park Service, is compiling and evaluating all known water resources, and documented infrastructure associated with these resources, within the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and contributing associated watersheds.

The Cambridge Water Department supplies approximately 13 million gallons per day of drinking water to more than 100,000 customers. Raw water is obtained from a serial system of three primary storage reservoirs—Cambridge Reservoir (also known as the Hobbs Brook Reservoir), Stony Brook Reservoir, and Fresh Pond Reservoir—in parts of Cambridge, Lexington, Lincoln, Waltham, and Weston, Massachusetts...

The Providence Water Supply Board (Providence Water) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are collaborating on a study to predict future water demand in and around the city of Providence.

The USGS, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be collecting water-quality and hydrologic data at four embayments from April 2021 to March 2025: Mystic, Norwalk, Saugatuck, Sasco-Southport complex, and Farm.

Primarily through the efforts of Glenn Hodgkins and Robert Dudley, the New England Water Science Center has been studying historical changes in streamflows, groundwater levels, and lake ice in New England and across the country for 20 years. Glenn and Rob have analyzed a wealth of historical data, including 100+ years of streamflow data and 150+ years of lake-ice data at some locations...

The Scituate Reservoir system is the largest inland body of water in Rhode Island and the principal drinking-water supply for more than 60 percent of the State’s population. The system includes the Scituate Reservoir and five tributary reservoirs with a maximum storage capacity of 37 billion gallons. The drainage basin that contributes water to the reservoir extends across 93 square miles in...

Below average and infrequent rainfall from May through September 2020 led to an extreme hydrologic drought across much of New England, with some areas experiencing a flash (quick-onset) drought.

Droughts are one of the most expensive and damaging hydrologic hazards in the United States. They are generally slow in developing, frequently occur over a long period of time, and can affect large areas and populations.

The USGS, in cooperation with the Town of Seabrook, New Hampshire and a private well owner, is assessing the variability of arsenic over multiple time scales. A network of three wells is being used to monitor changes in arsenic, arsenic species, a host of other chemical constituents, and the distribution of ages of groundwater entering the wells. The wells—one domestic bedrock aquifer well, one...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for New England is presented on this web page. Issue Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the stress on existing supplies, particularly...