Science by State

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.

The USGS compiles water use information by State including estimated amounts, sources, and categories of use every five years since 1950.

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.

The National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) provides an understanding of water-quality conditions; whether conditions are getting better or worse over time; and how natural features and human activities affect those conditions. Regional and national assessments are possible because of a consistent study design and uniform methods of data collection and analysis. Monitoring data are...

As part of the USGS National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program the USGS MIWSC operates a stream gage and routinely collects water quality samples at the Clinton River at Sterling Heights, MI. station. Water is analyzed for sediment, nutrients, major ions, and a suite of 271 different pesticides. Information obtained from this site is compiled with information from other National Fixed...

Streamflow data are needed at many sites on a daily basis for forecasting flow conditions and flooding, water-management decisions, assessing water availability, managing water quality, and meeting legal requirements. The USGS has been measuring streamflow in Wisconsin since 1906 with nearly 1,000 active and discontinued gages.

A summary of USGS resources and data related to flooding hazards in Wisconsin.

A summary of USGS resources and data related to drought hazards in Wisconsin.

Flood-frequency estimates are required at many sites for bridge and culvert design, as well as for flood-plain management and flood-insurance studies. To estimate flood frequency at ungaged locations, a network of approximately 90 crest-stage gages and more than 200 past and current continuous-record gages are used to compute regional flood-frequency equations to estimate floods at ungaged sites.

Botulism outbreaks occur within the Great Lakes and often result in significant bird die offs. It is believed that Clostridium botulinum is the reason for these die offs and the trophic pathways that this organism travels are of interest to understanding its place within the food web. The GLRI Avian Botulism Project is investigating six different matrices: sediment, Cladophora, invertebrates...

In June 2008, heavy rain caused severe flooding across southern Wisconsin. Record gage heights and streamflows occurred at 21 U.S. Geological Survey streamgages across southern Wisconsin from June 7 to June 21.

USGS initiated the Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budgets (WEBB) program to understand the processes controlling water, energy, and biogeochemical fluxes over a range of temporal and spatial scales, and the effects of atmospheric and climatic variables. Trout Lake is one of five small, geographically and ecologically diverse watersheds representing a range of hydrologic and climatic conditions.