Publications

Ground water is one of the most important natural resources of the United States and degradation of its quality could have a major effect on the welfare of the Nation. Currently (1985), ground water is the source of drinking water for 53 percent of the Nation's population and for more than 97 percent of its rural population. It is the source of about 40 percent of the Nation's public...

Ground-water resources supply almost 60 percent of the freshwater used in Texas, excluding withdrawals for thermoelectric-power generation (less than 3 percent). About 73 percent of the ground water withdrawn is used for irrigation, about 17 percent for public supply, and about 7 percent for industrial, rural domestic, and livestock uses. About 8 million people, or 48 percent of the...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1879, to provide a permanent Federal agency to conduct the systematic and scientific classification of the public lands and to examine the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of national domain. An integral part of that original mission includes publishing and disseminating the earth...

No abstract available.

In 1986, the Department of the Interior conducted reconnaissance investigations in nine areas of the western conterminous United States to determine whether irrigation drainage has caused or has the potential to cause harmful effects to human health, fish, and wildlife, or may adversely affect the suitability of water for beneficial uses. Data collected in the lower Rio Grande valley and...

No abstract available.

The Edwards aquifer is a complexly faulted, carbonate aquifer lying within the Balcones fault zone of south-central Texas. The aquifer consists of thin- to massive-bedded limestone and dolomite, most of which is in the form of mudstones and wackestones. Well-developed secondary porosity has formed in association with former erosional surfaces within the carbonate rocks, within...

Two maps show water levels in wells in the Houston, Texas, area in the Chicot aquifer and the Evangeline aquifer, spring 1988. Both the Chicot and the Evangeline aquifers are composed of several sand layers with different potentiometric surfaces. These maps, however, show approximations of single potentiometric surfaces that represent composite hydraulic heads. (USGS)

This report consists of: (1) four maps that present data on water level changes during 1977-87 and 1986-87 in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers, and in the Houston-Galveston region, Texas, and (2) one set of graphs and one map that present data on land subsidence caused by compaction of sub-surface materials for 1973-87. (USGS)

This report presents a compilation and summary of data related to the interchange of water between the Edwards aquifer and streams, and to the hydraulics of vertical movement of water in the Georgetown Limestone in the Georgetown area of Williamson County. It presents hydrologic, geologic, hydraulic, physical, geophysical, and water-quality data collected from selected wells and stream...

No abstract available.

The purpose of this report, which was prepared in cooperation with the City of Houston and the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District, is to show the altitudes of water levels in wells in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area. The maps are based on water-level measurements in the Spring of 1987 in about 400 wells.