Water Sustainability
Water Sustainability
There are two primary sources of water: surface waters (rivers and lakes, including the Great Lakes) and groundwater aquifers. Both sources provide for a variety of uses, including residential, business, industry, agriculture, energy production, mining, and recreation. The Upper Midwest Water Science Center collects basic hydrological data and conducts studies to understand how much water is currently available, how surface water and groundwater interact and affect availability, the rate at which we are using our water resources, and to forecast how much water will be available in the future.
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Acoustics
Upper Midwest Water Science Center uses acoustic meters for making streamflow measurements. Wading measurements are done using a modified top setting wading rod equipped with an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV). Acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCP) are used when measurement depths are too deep to wade. ADCP measurements can either be made with a tether or cableway or deployed on a manned...
Groundwater Data Available Online
The USGS Upper Midwest Water Science Center cooperates with local and state agencies to collect and maintain groundwater data across the states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. In Michigan, the USGS and local partners actively monitor 90 wells. Of the 90 wells, 22 are continuously monitored with 3 of those continuously monitored sites displayed in near real-time. All current and historical...
Low-Flow Streamgage Network in Michigan
Data on low-flow characteristics are used by water-resources managers for a variety of purposes, including water-supply planning, making decisions about wastewater-discharge and water withdrawal permits, and evaluating in-stream flow requirements. The Michigan low-flow network currently consists of seven sites where streamflow is typically measured only during low-flow periods. In addition to...
PEST++: A Parameter ESTimation code optimized for large environmental models
The PEST++ software suite is object-oriented universal computer code written in C++ that expands on and extends the algorithms included in PEST, a widely used parameter estimation code written in Fortran. PEST++ is designed to lower the barriers of entry for users and developers while providing efficient algorithms that can accommodate large, highly parameterized problems.
PESTCommander: A graphical user interface for file and run management across networks
PESTCommander is an object-oriented Graphical User Interface (GUI) written in Python® that facilitates the management of model files ("file management") and remote launching and termination of slave computers across a distributed network of computers ("run management").
GENIE: A general model-independent TCP/IP run manager
GENIE is a model-independent suite of programs that can be used to generally distribute, manage, and execute multiple model runs via the TCP/IP infrastructure. The suite consists of a file distribution interface, a run manage, a run executer, and a routine that can be compiled as part of a program and used to exchange model runs with the run manager.
TSPROC: a general time-series processor to assist in model calibration and result summarization
TSPROC (Time Series PROCessor) is a software package designed to assist in the calibration of models by editing and distilling time series datasets into more meaningful observations to be used in the optimization objective function. The software performs calculations on time-series data associated with surface-water models, including calculation of flow volumes, transformation by means of basic...
Estimating Lake Water Clarity
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), use a technique modeled after Olmanson and others (2001) to predict water clarity and corresponding trophic state index (TSI) values based on the Carlson's Trophic State Index (TSI) in inland lakes greater than 20 acres using satellite remote sensing data. Measurements from the...
Water use in Wisconsin
Water-use information is essential for managing Wisconsin's valuable water resources. This critical information includes knowing how much, where, and for what purpose water is being used. The USGS works in cooperation with local, state, and federal environmental agencies to collect water-use information, and compiles and disseminates aggregated data at the county, state, and national level.
Water Use in Michigan
The USGS compiles water use information by State including estimated amounts, sources, and categories of use every five years since 1950.
Microbial Ecology
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Michigan Bacteriological Research Laboratory (MI-BaRL) conducts ecological studies on the structure and function of eubacterial and archeal communities in the environment. Studies of this type give us basic information about the composition and functionality of different microbial communities and allow us to investigate the effects that natural and anthropogenic...
Michigan Historical NAWQA Programs
The USGS implemented the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991 to develop long-term consistent and comparable information on streams, rivers, groundwater, and aquatic systems in support of national, regional, State, and local information needs and decisions related to water-quality management and policy.