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
Development of regression equations for the estimation of flood flows at ungaged streams in Pennsylvania
Regression equations, which may be used to estimate flood flows at select annual exceedance probabilities, were developed for ungaged streams in Pennsylvania. The equations were developed using annual peak flow data through water year 2015 and basin characteristics for 285 streamflow gaging stations across Pennsylvania and surrounding states. The...
Roland, Mark A.; Stuckey, Marla H.Baseline environmental monitoring of groundwater, surface water, and soil at the Ammonium Perchlorate Rocket Motor Destruction Facility at the Letterkenny Army Depot, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, 2016
Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, built an Ammonium Perchlorate Rocket Motor Destruction (ARMD) facility in 2016. The ARMD Facility was designed to centralize rocket motor destruction and contain or capture all waste during the destruction process. Ideally, there would be no contaminant transport to air, soil, or water from the...
Galeone, Daniel G.Real-time assessments of water quality—A nowcast for Escherichia coli and cyanobacterial toxins
Threats to our recreational and drinking waters include disease-causing (pathogenic) organisms from fecal contamination and toxins produced by some species of cyanobacteria (cyanotoxins) that can cause acute and (or) chronic illnesses. Because traditional laboratory methods for detecting these threats take too long for prompt public health...
Francy, Donna S.; Brady, Amie M.; Zimmerman, Tammy M.