Water Quality
Water Quality
Water quality is a measure of the suitability of water for a particular use based on selected physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Water-quality monitoring is used to help water-resource managers understand and avert potential negative effects of man-made and natural stresses on water resources. The Upper Midwest Water Science Center investigates water-quality issues using new technologies and techniques to study the physical, chemical, biological, geological interactions in rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and across the Nation. Some of the issues we address include the occurrence, distribution, trends, and modeling of pollutants; the relationship between ecological responses and water quality; and the relationships between natural factors, land use, and water quality, in both rural and urban settings.
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Green Lake and its tributaries: Water quality and hydrology
Green Lake is the deepest natural inland lake in Wisconsin. Through time its water quality has degraded, with relatively high phosphorus concentrations and zones of hypoxia. This project is quantifying the water quality of the lake and its tributaries, and it will provide information to help guide efforts to improve the lake.
Environmental factors and risk estimation for waterborne pathogens at three Great Lakes beaches
The goals of this study were to quantify pathogen concentrations in water at three Lake Michigan beaches, identify environmental factors that influence pathogen occurrence and variability, and to estimate health risks for recreational swimmers.
Delavan Lake: Hydrology, water quality, and biology
Eutrophication of Delavan Lake accelerated from the 1940s to 1980s, resulting in a hypereutrophic lake with severe blue-green algae blooms. Extensive rehabilitation efforts were implemented to improve water quality. The USGS measured nutrients, suspended sediment, water quality, and plankton populations to quantify the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts and guide future management decisions.
Geneva Lake: Water quality, hydrology, and biology
To reduce the impact of increasing urban development and recreational use on Geneva Lake, efforts are being made to decrease point- and nonpoint-source pollution inputs. To document Geneva Lake's water quality, the USGS collected water-quality data and developed empirical eutrophication models to demonstrate that reductions in phosphorus loading were related to water-quality improvements.
Continuous Groundwater Monitoring Network - Minnesota
This project monitors groundwater level, groundwater temperature and precipitation at hourly intervals at a long-term network of sites throughout Minnesota. These data are collected from surficial and buried aquifers and can be used to estimate groundwater recharge and assist water-availability assessments. Data are corrected to manual measurements at least twice per year and are available through...
Water quality of the lower Fox River tributaries and Duck Creek watersheds
The USGS is evaluating the effectiveness of non-point pollution control measures in five watersheds in the Lower Fox River and Duck Creek watersheds and comparing daily phosphorus and suspended solids loads for each watershed.
SPARROW nutrient modeling: Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB)
SPARROW models for the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin (MARB) predict long-term average loads, concentrations, yields, and source contributions of water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended sediment to the Gulf of Mexico.
SPARROW nutrient modeling: Binational (US/Canada) models
SPARROW phosphorus and nitrogen models are being developed for the entire Great Lakes Basin and the Upper Midwest part of the U.S., and the Red and Assiniboine River Basin, as part of a Binational project between the USGS and the International Joint Commission (IJC) and National Research Council (NRC) of Canada.
WinSLAMM (Source Loading And Management Model): An urban area nonpoint source water-quality model for Wisconsin
The WinSLAMM model is used to identify sources of pollutants in urban stormwater runoff and to evaluate management alternatives for reducing pollutants. USGS studies provide stormwater flow and pollutant-concentration data for calibrating and verifying WinSLAMM for use in Wisconsin.
Determine Baseline and Sources of Contaminant Loadings to the Great Lakes
To better understand the quality of water flowing into the Great Lakes, the USGS is conducting water-quality analyses for nutrients, sediment, and toxic substances and estimating the amount (load) of these substances for tributaries to the Great Lakes. Information on the occurrence and distribution of contaminants is needed to provide baseline information, measure progress towards restoration...
SPARROW modeling: Estimating nutrient, sediment, and dissolved solids transport
SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes) models estimate the amount of a contaminant transported from inland watersheds to larger water bodies by linking monitoring data with information on watershed characteristics and contaminant sources. Interactive, online SPARROW mapping tools allow for easy access to explore relations between human activities, natural processes, and...
Microbial Source Tracking
It is often important to understand the source of fecal indicator bacteria, pathogens, or chemicals that impair the normal use of water. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and their genes, specific bacterial pathogens (such as E. coli O157:H7 which is primarily associated with cattle), and host-associated bacterial genes (such as human or animal specific Bacteroides genes), can be used to evaluate the...