Water Quality

Litterfall is leaves, needles, flowers, fruit, and debris found on the forest floor. Litterfall sampling can be an effective tool for monitoring elements like Mercury. Mercury in litterfall is primarily from the atmosphere and contributes to the higher amounts of mercury dry deposition that accumulates in forested areas compared to non-forested areas. INKY scientists collect litterfall as part of...

Staff have been sampling Sugar Creek at New Palestine and the White River at Hazleton heavily since the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) pilot study in 1991. We have collected 26 years of nutrient, pesticide, major ions, and sediment data at these sites. Our intensive data collection is critical to the science and results published by the NAWQA program.

The Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center Algal Biomass Laboratory processes samples for chlorophyll-a and nutrients. The analytical data for chlorophyll-a and pheophytin provided by USGS [periphyton samples collected by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)] are used by IDEM for water quality assessment and nutrient management planning.

Water Science Center scientists monitor several rivers in Kentucky as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Program (NWQP). As part of the NWQP program , USGS scientists from across the country are determine the status and trends of loads and concentrations of contaminants, nutrients, and sediment in the Nation’s large rivers.

Scientists are using the Ecomapper Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) to collect imagery, bathymetry, and basic water-quality parameters. The Ecomapper provides a innovative visualization of data.

Davis Branch, a stream within the boundaries of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, is a designated Warm Water Aquatic Habitat, Primary Contact Recreation, and Outstanding State Resource Water. Historically, the stream has provided a critical habitat to the federally-threatened Blackside Dace, a small cyprinid fish endemic to the upper Cumberland River basin. In recent decades, the...