Pennsylvania Water Science Center
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The USGS Pennsylvania Water Science Center is your direct link to all kinds of water-resource information. Data collection and interpretive studies are done in cooperation with local, state, and federal agencies.
PA Drought Condition Monitoring
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection relies upon a number of parameters to monitor water-supply-drought conditions.
Drought ConditionsNews
Drought Streamflow Probabilities in Northeast Region
Maximum likelihood logistic regression (MLLR) is used to estimate drought probabilities for selected Northeast rivers and streams. Winter streamflows are used to estimate the chance of hydrologic drought during summer months. This application allows the display and query of these drought streamflow probabilities for Northeastern streams.
High Levels of Radon Found in Some Wells Across Pennsylvania
A new U.S. Geological Survey study has discovered high levels of radon in wells across certain areas of Pennsylvania.
USGS Finds Elevated Levels of Arsenic, Radon, Methane in Some Private Wells in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania
Tests of 75 private drinking water wells in Lycoming County, in north-central Pennsylvania, found water from most of the sampled wells contained concentrations of radon that exceeded a proposed, nonbinding health standard for drinking water. Smaller percentages of the wells contained concentrations of arsenic or methane that exceed existing drinking water standards.
Publications
Groundwater withdrawals and regional flow paths at and near Willow Grove and Warminster, Pennsylvania—Data compilation and preliminary simulations for conditions in 1999, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017
In 2014, groundwater samples from residential and public supply wells in the vicinity of two former U.S. Navy bases at Willow Grove and Warminster, and an active Air National Guard Station at Horsham, Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania, were found to have concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS...
Goode, Daniel J.; Senior, Lisa A.
Identification of management thresholds of urban development in support of aquatic biodiversity conservation
Urbanization degrades stream ecosystems and causes loss of bodiversity. Using benthic macroinvertebrates as a surragate for overall aquatic diversity, we conducted a series of analytical approaches to derive management thresholds of urban development designed to link ecological responses to the primary management goal of protecting aquatic...
Snyder, Craig D.; Young, John A.
A comparison of hydrocarbon-related landscape disturbance patterns along the New York-Pennsylvania border, 2004–2013
Executive SummaryThe New York-Pennsylvania area has a long history of hydrocarbon extraction, and the addition of shale gas extraction methods contributes to landscape disturbance borne by previously developed oil and non-shale gas resources. The main unconventional extraction method used to extract shale gas from the Marcellus Shale located in...
Roig-Silva, Coral M.; Milheim, Lesley E.; Slonecker, E. Terrence; Kalaly, Siddiq; Chestnut, Joseph