Images

Milwaukee Harbor in foreground with Discovery World building featured, on an early autumn day.

Painting (watercolor and ink) depicting the 117 species of plants found in and around a mine site that are utilized by the tribal community in northern Arizona.

An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) device takes a streamflow measurement at streamgage 04087088 Underwood Creek, near Milwaukee, Wisconsin after a flood event in August 2025.

Floodwaters swirl in the foreground and trees peek up in the background, during flooding of the Menomonee River in Wauwasota, Wisconsin in August 2025, at streamgage 04087120.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/USGS-04087120/

Physical scientist Brent Heerspink conducts sampling on the Detroit River with the Gordie Howe International Bridge in the background.

Painting (gouache painting) depicting the Blue Mesa Reservoir during a year of low precipitation totals and the resulting cyanobacteria distribution.

Painting (gouache painting) depicting the Blue Mesa Reservoir during a year with relatively greater levels of precipitation and the resulting cyanobacteria distribution.

The center of a vibrant downtown and a commercial shipping hub, the Milwaukee Harbor teems with underwater activity in pockets of habitat full of aquatic life. But look on any map and the harbor is just a blue-black void. The map on this page fills in that gap and invites you to explore the complexity of this remarkable urban ecosystem.

Jones Island streamgage on the shore of the Milwaukee River in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Milwaukee River at Mouth at Milwaukee, WI - USGS Water Data for the Nation

View of the Hoan Bridge in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with seagulls flying in foreground.

Experimental flow through system for testing lignin foam composite for mercury removal in natural surface waters.

A large plastic sample bottle contains water and brown lignin settling at the bottom. This is used in benchtop experiments to explore how effective the lignin composites are for removing mercury.

USGS M3 Research Laboratory summer research student Noor from the University of Wisconsin: Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunties Program (Freshwater@UW Summer Research Opportunities Program - Water@UW-Madison) learning how to construct columns for flow through testing with USDA

Effluent from soybean processing facility following treatment, entering nearby surface water body. Photo taken by USGS, Sandra Leal.

Anniston: Toxic Legacy, Reclaimed future. – Painting (gouache painting) depicts the PCB contamination embedded in the community and ecosystems of Anniston, Alabama and the restoration work taking place to through U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Geological Survey Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR), and U.S.

Hydrologic Technician Jim Wilkinson teaching Field Assistant Hannah Michel how to take a discharge measurement under the ice at the Pigeon River near Pigeon, Michigan.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/04159000/

Upper Midwest Water Science center staff (left to right) Hydrologic Technicians Jarvis Kaderlik and Brandon Nelson, Biologist Eric Dantoin, Hydrologic Technician Ryan Jirik and Biologist Patrick Perner pose with a large statue of a Hodag.

Painting (gouache painting) is a generalized schematic view, not to scale, through the Grand Canyon with the Colorado River in the center, an unmined breccia pipe on the left side, and the Orphan Mine and associated breccia pipe on the right side. Dashed lines show a conceptual understanding of how water may interact with the Orphan Mine.

Streamgage 04045500 Tahquamenon River Near Paradise, Michigan, covered in snow on a December day.

https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/04045500/

This gouache painting is of a sign located near Horn Creek in the Grand Canyon. The Creek is contaminated with high levels of Uranium. Sign states: "Horn Creek, Danger, Contaminated Water, Do Not Drink! Water in Horn Creek exceeds EPA health standards for radioactivity".

This is a photo of a filtration apparatus being used for microplastics analysis, November 2024.