Oregon Water Science Center

Residents should not be alarmed if they see a low-flying airplane over parts of southern Washington and northern Oregon starting October 21, 2021.

The region-wide, reach-scale results from a new study provide two new tools that might help water-quality managers. One is an estimate of the total contribution from point and diffuse sources to the loads delivered to nutrient-impaired water bodies. The other is a method to assess potential nutrient impairment based on estimated warm-weather dissolved oxygen and pH conditions. 

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.

The results from this study provide insights into the effectiveness of current forest management practices in controlling the transport of forest-use pesticides.

May 7th, 2021 will mark 30 years of continuous water-quality monitoring in the Tualatin River for the USGS Oregon Water Science Center.

Some of the intense wildfires that occurred during late summer of 2020 in Oregon happened along streams that were being monitored by the USGS. As a result, the USGS was able to measure how water-quality was affected by those wildfires.

Despite the tremendous effort invested in reducing the use of nitrogen, widespread decreases in nitrate loads in US rivers and streams remain elusive—what gives? A new study from the USGS provides more evidence that the culprit is the slow release to streams of nitrogen that has accumulated in groundwater and other...

Lampreys in the Umpqua River basin face multiple threats, including predation by nonnative fish such as smallmouth bass.

The U.S. Geological Survey announced Friday the completion of a new mobile tool that provides real-time information on water levels, weather and flood forecasts all in one place on a computer, smartphone or other mobile device. 

USGS scientists are providing important information about off-channel features of the Willamette River, which provide habitat for many fish species including salmonids. This information will fill gaps in the data needed to effectively manage the Willamette River system.

SPARROW mappers are interactive tools that allow users to evaluate streamflow and nutrient and sediment conditions as well as the importance of different sources of contaminants in a selected river basin. Data can be visualized at different scales using maps and interactive graphs and tables.