Water Budgets

Walker Lake is one of the few perennial, natural terminal lakes in the Great Basin. The ecosystems and recreational uses of Walker Lake and other terminal lakes in the Great Basin have become at-risk due to consumptive water use.

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the process that transfers water from land surface to the atmosphere as evaporation (or sublimation when below freezing) from open water, soil, and plant canopies and as transpiration by plants. ET is measured by scientists for many different reasons. Hydrologists from the Nevada Water Scientist Center (NVWSC) typically measure ET to help quantify water budgets...

The Humboldt River Basin (HRB) is the only major river basin that is entirely within the State of Nevada. Precipitation supplies all the water that enters the basin; consequently, the variability in climate has significant impacts on the hydrology of the area.

Elko County officials and citizens are concerned about growing demand for groundwater within the county and demands for groundwater that are occurring elsewhere in the state. Because the Humboldt River is fully appropriated, any additional water needed to support growth in the upper Humboldt River Basin will have to come from groundwater. County and state water-resource managers need information...

The Humboldt River is in north-central Nevada. The river is about 330 miles long and provides water for mostly agricultural purposes. One of the largest industries in Nevada is gold mining and the majority of those mines are in the Humboldt River Basin on the Carlin Trend. Gold mines in Nevada produce close to 80 percent of all the gold in the U.S. and are the 4th largest in the world. In 2010...

Stump Spring has been designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and Hiko Springs currently is in the designation process. Both springs flow intermittently in drainages where the depth to groundwater is shallow. The shallow groundwater flowing to and from the springs sustain scarce desert riparian habitats. BLM has recognized a need for accurate...

The Diamond Valley flow system (DVFS) consists of six basins or hydrographic areas (HAs) in central Nevada: southern and northern Monitor Valleys, Antelope Valley, Kobeh Valley, Stevens Basin, and Diamond Valley. The six basins are, in part, hydrologically connected by ephemeral streams, by groundwater flow in shallow basin-fill aquifers, and, possibly, by subsurface flow in deeper carbonate-rock...

The USGS Nevada Water Science Center began an investigation in 2010 to quantify hydrologic effects of groundwater withdrawals on Truckee River streamflow in the Tracy Segment hydrographic area, Storey, Washoe and Lyon Counties, Nevada. Groundwater gradients have been monitored at sites near pumping wells and the river. Water-level fluctuations resulting from local pumping are interpreted with flow...

Supplementary water supplies are needed for a rapidly growing population in southern Nevada. Ground-water resources from basin-fill and consolidated rock aquifers in southern Spring and Snake valleys in eastern Nevada have been identified as a potential water-supply source. These aquifers provide water to springs, streams, wetlands, limestone caves, and other biologically sensitive areas on...