Publications

The statewide average precipitation of 31.79 inches for the 1997 water year was the same as the normal annual precipitation of 31.79 inches for water years 1961-90. Average precipitation values ranged from 78 percent of normal at Mauston 1 SE WWTP weather station in central Wisconsin to 139 percent of normal at Menomonie WWTP weather station in west central Wisconsin (Matt Menne, Acting...

Ground-water contamination by crude oil, and other petroleum-based liquids, is a widespread problem. An average of 83 crude-oil spills occurred per year during 1994-96 in the United States, each spilling about 50,000 barrels of crude oil (U.S. Office of Pipeline Safety, electronic commun., 1997). An understanding of the fate of organic contaminants (such as oil and gasoline) in the...

Wisconsin's water-monitoring network is in danger of losing critical ground-water, surface-water, and water-quality monitoring stations. Since 1995, the ground-water network has decreased by 43 observation wells, the surface-water network by 7 stations, and the surface-water- quality network by 30 stations. Reductions in Wisconsin's water-monitoring network could cause serious risk to...

We compared the acute toxicity and initial accumulation of the piscicide TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol) in the freshwater unionacean mussels, Obliquaria reflexa and Fusconaia flava. Acute 48 h toxicity tests were conducted to determine the LC50 values for each species. The initial uptake clearances of TFM were measured by exposing the mussels to [14C]-TFM and counting the...

A method was developed to experimentally induce saprolegniasis in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. The development of a reliable method to produce infected fish is essential to efforts to determine the efficacy of various antifungal treatments. Three methods for inducing saprolegniasis were evaluated in waters containing known concentrations of Saprolegnia parasitica zoospores. These...

Water resources data for the 1997 water year for Michigan consists of records of stage, discharge, and water quality of streams; stage, contents, and water quality of lakes and reservoirs; and water levels and water quality of groundwater wells. This report contains discharge records for 146 streamflow-gaging stations; stage only records for 1 stream-gaging station and 20 lake-gaging...

Surveys of water quality in surficial, buried glacial, and Cretaceous aquifers in the Red River of the North Basin during 1991-95 showed that some major-ion, nutrient, pesticide, and radioactive-element concentrations differed by physiographic area and differed among these aquifer types. Waters in surficial aquifers in the Drift Prairie (west) and Lake Plain (central) physiographic areas...

Declining hydraulic heads in the Buffalo and Wahpeton aquifers are of concern to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and local water managers because of limited groundwater resources in the southern part of the Red River of the North drainage basin. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Moorhead Public Service...

Control of phosphorus from rural nonpoint sources is a major focus of current efforts to improve and protect water resources in Wisconsin and is recommended in almost every priority watershed plan prepared for the State's Nonpoint Source (NFS) Program. Barnyards and crop- lands usually are identified as the primary rural sources of phosphorus. Numerous questions have arisen about which...

Eight stream sites (Fixed Sites) were chosen to describe the variability in the water quality of the Western Lake Michigan Drainages (WMIC) Study Unit of the National Water-Quality Assessment program. These sites were chosen in areas (Relatively Homogeneous Units) dominated by unique combinations of the environmental factors thought to be most important in influencing water quality...

The occurrence of pesticides and nitrate (nitrite plus nitrate as nitrogen) in surficial sand and gravel aquifers in parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin was summarized as part of an analysis of historical water-quality data for the Upper Mississippi River Basin study unit of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. Water samples were collected by State...

Submersed aquatic vegetation, dominated by Vallisneria americana Michx., declined dramatically in Lake Onalaska (Navigation Pool 7, on the Upper Mississippi River) following drought conditions in the late 1980s. Coinciding with the decline were marked increases in the abundance of phyllum spicatum L., particularly in areas vacated by A. americana. Recent evidence indicates that much of...