Projects
Projects
Collaborative work planned and designed to achieve a particular aim.
Filter Total Items: 14
Integrated Assessments of Potential Risks to Aquatic Organisms and Public Water Supply from Wastewater-Derived Chemical Mixtures in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Proper management of contaminants of emerging concern in the Chesapeake Bay region requires scientific efforts to understand the risk posed to aquatic resources from the “cocktail” of multiple contaminants that is often present. This research aims to assess the occurrence, sources, environmental impacts, biological effects, and the human health impacts of toxic contaminants in rivers.
The Virginia Extensometer Network
Borehole extensometers are instruments that monitor land subsidence caused by aquifer compaction. They provide precise, high-resolution measurements of changes in aquifer-system thickness. These changes in aquifer-system thickness contribute to vertical land motion (VLM) across the Virginia Coastal Plain, and are driven primarily by groundwater level decline due to human water usage. The Virginia...
Land Subsidence on the Virginia Coastal Plain
Land subsidence is a loss of ground elevation, often experienced as the ground slowly sinking over the course of years. In eastern Virginia, high rates of groundwater use is a major factor in the land subsidence affecting the area. The Virginia-West Virginia Water Science Center, with the help of our partners, has been monitoring land subsidence in the Virginia Coastal Plain since 1979 using a...
Appalachian Plateau Groundwater Availablity Study
Pennsylvanian- and Mississippian-age aquifers occupy approximately 86,000 square-miles in the Appalachian Plateaus Physiographic Province of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. As one of several USGS Regional Groundwater Studies, the primary goal of this study is to provide a regional understanding of groundwater flow and availability in the...
Hydrologic and Water-Quality Factors Affecting Habitat Restoration and Management of the Great Dismal Swamp
The objectives of this study are to identify 1) the relations between water levels in the ditches and groundwater levels near the ditches and in the interior of the Blocks, 2) possible relations between groundwater levels and tree growth rates, and 3) current nutrient chemistry and possible nutrient transport pathways in these wetlands.
Hampton Roads Regional Water Quality Monitoring Program
In 2015, the U.S. Geological Survey partnered with the Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) in cooperation with the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission to implement a water-quality monitoring program in six major cities across the Hampton Roads region. This long-term monitoring program consists of a network of 12 water-quality monitoring stations, 2 per jurisdiction, across the cities...
Shenandoah River Instream Flow Studies
As urban and rural growth continues, competition for clean water expands into stream areas previously capable of meeting local water-use demands. Conflicts among instream and offstream users of streamflow increase as flows decrease. This research enhances understanding of summer low-flow conditions in the North Fork, South Fork, and Shenandoah Rivers, relating water availability to physical...
Virginia Flood Investigations
An important part of the Virginia Department of Transportation's missions is the safe maintenance, design, and constructions of bridges that cross-waterways and wetlands in the State. The data collected by USGS in conjunction with this project is a vital element of the overall task and mission of the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Virginia Chloride Monitoring Network
Objectives of the program are to (1) evaluate the spatial and temporal distribution of chloride concentrations in the aquifers, (2) evaluate the factors that affect the spatial and temporal distributions of chloride, and (3) assess the potential for upcoming or lateral intrusion of saline water in the aquifers.
South River Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load
The objective of the South River Mercury Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study is to develop a better understanding of methyl mercury cycling in the South River and calculate mercury loading reductions that would protect fish from high mercury concentrations.
Continuous Water-Quality Monitoring for the Roanoke River Flood Reduction Project
This project: (1) initiates a continuous water-quality monitoring study for the Roanoke River in the area upstream and downstream of the RRFRP project area; (2) provides a mechanism for detecting short- and long-term changes in Roanoke River suspended sediment water quality during and after the RRFRP implementation; and (3) assesses trends in suspended sediment water quality in this section of the...
Roanoke River Study
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Wilmington District and the City of Roanoke, Virginia began construction of a congressionally authorized Roanoke River Flood Reduction Project (RRFRP) in 2005. RRFRP implementation activities include: construction activities, stream bank vegetation changes, and floodplain geometry changes which are occurring in a complicated urban river system. These...