Water Quality

Nicknamed the ‘Super Monitor,’ this site has measured key water-quality values every 15 minutes since 2009.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) computes time-series of total phosphorus (TP) and suspended-sediment concentrations (SSC) and loads entering Upper Klamath Lake using continuous turbidity sensor records, discrete TP and SSC data, and continuously computed streamflow.

The USGS Water Resources Mission Area is assessing how much water is available for human and ecological needs in the United States and identifying where and when the Nation may have challenges meeting its demand for water. This information helps decision makers manage and distribute water in ways that balance competing needs. Due to its complex and competing water demands, ecological significance...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) are refining a water quality model to better understand temperature and salinity dynamics in the Lake Washington Ship Canal. This effort is supported by the Sustainable Rivers Program, a partnership between the USACE and The Nature Conservancy (TNC).

Migratory wildlife need to balance the benefits of migration and reproduction with the physiological costs. This is particularly challenging in dynamic environments like wetlands, where food levels can vary greatly from year to year. For shorebirds in the Great Basin region, saline or terminal lakes provide essential habitats during their annual life cycle. To understand how changes in hydrology...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Crooked River Watershed Council (CRWC) are working together to identify sources of nitrate entering Lake Billy Chinook from the Crooked River Basin to help resource managers improve water quality.

The Willamette River Basin reflects the conflicting water demands between humans and ecosystems—particularly salmon— and the challenge resource managers face throughout the Pacific Northwest.

USGS scientists partnered with the Lower Columbia Estuary Partnership (LCEP) to assess toxic contaminant levels at 10 sites within the Lower Columbia River. Our strategy is to compare current toxic contaminant levels to the results collected previously at these sites to identify temporal changes.

USGS scientists have partnered with local groups to learn about the processes affecting turbidity in Malheur Lake. Located in southeastern Oregon, Malheur Lake and the surrounding refuge provide critical habitat to birds migrating along the Pacific Flyway.

The USGS is monitoring water-quality above, within, and below Middle Fork Willamette and the South Santiam River dams to understand how reservoir drawdowns influence downstream water-quality conditions.

In this study, USGS scientists from multiple centers used advanced hyperspectral imaging techniques to advance monitoring of attached benthic algae (periphyton) in Cascade Range rivers used for municipal water supply. Periphyton are naturally occurring, but excess growth can harm ecosystems and degrade raw and treated drinking water quality. In these rivers, periphyton contain cyanobacteria that...

The amount and type of algae in the Tualatin River affect the river’s water quality and ecological health, as well as its value as a recreational resource. As a relatively new source of summertime flow to the upper Tualatin River, discharges from the Fernhill Natural Treatment System (NTS) have the potential to enhance or degrade downstream water quality. Discharges of low nutrient concentrations...