Oregon Water Science Center
Home
Welcome to the USGS in Oregon. Our mission is to explore the natural world around us and provide reliable scientific information to help Federal, State, and local agencies, Tribes, and the public make well-informed decisions. Our research is widely used to manage Oregon's water resources for the benefit and safety of people and the environment.
Current Stream Conditions
See what is happening in streams near you. View real-time stream data for streams around Oregon.
View DataWeekly Science Seminar
Our lunchtime seminars are held Tuesdays from 12pm to 1 pm and are open to the public.
View ScheduleNews
USGS Releases Groundwater-Level Contour Maps for the Harney Basin, Oregon
Groundwater-level contour maps from a groundwater-availability study of the Harney Basin are now available. These results are important for understanding the status of groundwater resources in the basin and how they might respond to future demand.
PSU-USGS study improves the understanding of how pesticides are transported within Oregon coastal watersheds
The results from this study provide insights into the effectiveness of current forest management practices in controlling the transport of forest-use pesticides.
A Momentous Anniversary for USGS Continuous Water-Quality Monitoring in Oregon
May 7th, 2021 will mark 30 years of continuous water-quality monitoring in the Tualatin River for the USGS Oregon Water Science Center.
Publications
Climate impacts on source contributions and evaporation to flow in the Snake River Basin using surface water isoscapes (δ2H and δ18O)
Rising global temperatures are expected to decrease the precipitation amount that falls as snow, causing greater risk of water scarcity, groundwater overdraft, and fire in areas that rely on mountain snowpack for their water supply. Streamflow in large river basins varies with the amount, timing, and type of precipitation, evapotranspiration, and...
Windler, Grace; Brooks, J. Renée; Johnson, Henry M.; Comeleo, Randy; Coulombe, Rob; Bowen, Gabriel J. Sediment transport, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen responses to annual streambed drawdowns for downstream fish passage in a flood control reservoir
Sediment transport, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen were evaluated during six consecutive water years (2013–2018) of drawdowns of a flood control reservoir in the upper Willamette Valley, Oregon, USA. The drawdowns were conducted to allow volitional passage of endangered juvenile chinook salmon through the dam's regulating outlets by lowering...
Schenk, Liam N.; Bragg, Heather M. Is there an urban pesticide signature? Urban streams in five U.S. regions share common dissolved-phase pesticides but differ in predicted aquatic toxicity
Pesticides occur in urban streams globally, but the relation of occurrence to urbanization can be obscured by regional differences. In studies of five regions of the United States, we investigated the effect of region and urbanization on the occurrence and potential toxicity of dissolved pesticide mixtures. We analyzed 225 pesticide compounds in...
Nowell, Lisa H.; Moran, Patrick W.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Mahler, Barbara; Van Metre, Peter C.; Bradley, Paul; Schmidt, Travis S.; Button, Daniel T.; Qi, Sharon L.