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Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

Welcome to the Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center. We deliver timely and reliable data, advanced interpretive science, and tools needed to understand the water resources of Virginia and West Virginia in support of effective decision making.

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News

USGS experts responding simultaneously to two major natural hazards

USGS experts responding simultaneously to two major natural hazards

USGS Researchers Invite Community Members to Help Kick Off a New Study of Local Streams and Conservation Practices in the Shenandoah Valley

USGS Researchers Invite Community Members to Help Kick Off a New Study of Local Streams and Conservation Practices in the Shenandoah Valley

U.S. Geological Survey is working to install its fourth local extensometer – the only ones on the East Coast

U.S. Geological Survey is working to install its fourth local extensometer – the only ones on the East Coast

Publications

Factors contributing to pesticide contamination in riverine systems: The role of wastewater and landscape sources

Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges can be a source of organic contaminants, including pesticides, to rivers. An integrated model was developed for the Potomac River watershed (PRW) to determine the amount of accumulated wastewater percentage of streamflow (ACCWW) and calculate predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) for 14 pesticides in non-tidal National Hydrography Dataset Plus V
Authors
Samuel Adam Miller, Kaycee E. Faunce, Larry B. Barber, Jacob Fleck, Daniel Walter Burns, Jeramy Roland Jasmann, Michelle Hladik

Characterization of the water resources of the Pamunkey River watershed in Virginia—A review of water science, management, and traditional ecological knowledge

In central Virginia, the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and Reservation are facing increasingly complex water resource issues related to quantity and quality. Documentation of surface-water, groundwater, water quality, land subsidence, sea-level rise, and river ecology issues in the Pamunkey River watershed and incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge into these research topics may improve underst
Authors
Brendan M. Foster, Ronaldo Lopez, Edward R. Crawford, Warren Cook, Joyce Krigsvold, John Henry Langston, Terry Langston, Grover Miles, Kirk Moore, Greg C. Garman, Karen C. Rice, John D. Jastram

The effects of wastewater reuse on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) relative abundance in the Shenandoah River Watershed, USA

Municipal and industrial wastewater effluent is an important source of water for lotic systems, especially during periods of low flow. The accumulated wastewater effluent flows—expressed as a percentage of total streamflow (ACCWW%)—contain chemical mixtures that pose a risk to aquatic life; fish may be particularly vulnerable when chronically exposed. Although there has been considerable focus on
Authors
Tyler Wagner, Paul McLaughlin, Kaycee E. Faunce, Samuel H. Austin, Kelly Smalling

Science

New insights for reducing nutrient and sediment loads in agricultural watersheds prioritized for management activities

Agricultural activities and natural factors may offset nutrient and sediment reductions from management activities.
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New insights for reducing nutrient and sediment loads in agricultural watersheds prioritized for management activities

Agricultural activities and natural factors may offset nutrient and sediment reductions from management activities.
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USGS Publications Summarize Water-Quality Trends and Drivers in Urban Streams After 10 Years of Monitoring in Fairfax County, Virginia

Issue : Degraded water quality and ecology in urban streams has been widely documented, but explanations of changing conditions over time are often unavailable. A 15-year collaborative urban stream monitoring effort between the Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is ongoing and has begun to shed light on this complex issue. In a new USGS report by...
link

USGS Publications Summarize Water-Quality Trends and Drivers in Urban Streams After 10 Years of Monitoring in Fairfax County, Virginia

Issue : Degraded water quality and ecology in urban streams has been widely documented, but explanations of changing conditions over time are often unavailable. A 15-year collaborative urban stream monitoring effort between the Fairfax County Stormwater Planning Division and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is ongoing and has begun to shed light on this complex issue. In a new USGS report by...
Learn More

Source Water Monitoring on the Roanoke River in Salem, Virginia

The Roanoke River is the primary source of the City of Salem's drinking water. Threats to water quality in rivers like the Roanoke have increased in recent years, and water authorities as well as residents are concerned about preventing source water contamination. Realtime water quality monitoring is a valuable tool in alerting water authorities such as Salem Water when there are anomalous...
link

Source Water Monitoring on the Roanoke River in Salem, Virginia

The Roanoke River is the primary source of the City of Salem's drinking water. Threats to water quality in rivers like the Roanoke have increased in recent years, and water authorities as well as residents are concerned about preventing source water contamination. Realtime water quality monitoring is a valuable tool in alerting water authorities such as Salem Water when there are anomalous...
Learn More

Multimedia

15 people stand next to a bioreactor, a dam in a spring-fed creek made up of woodchips, soil, and straw.
Visit to the War Branch Bioreactor
Visit to the War Branch Bioreactor
Two researchers in life vests stand at a table full of water quality sampling equipment. They demonstrate its use.
Water Quality Sampling Equipment Show-and-Tell
Water Quality Sampling Equipment Show-and-Tell
Community members gather at an outreach table, reading USGS fact sheets
Outreach Event at War Branch
Outreach Event at War Branch
Water flows out of a bioreactor through a white PVC pipe before splashing down into a small stream.
The War Branch Bioreactor
The War Branch Bioreactor
Methods of Measuring Land Motion, including extensometers, Monitoring wells, InSAR, and GNSS Surveys
Methods of Measuring Land Motion
Methods of Measuring Land Motion
Two USGS scientists work on installing a monitoring box.
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
A small rural creek with clear water and a rocky bottom flows under an old farm road through three culverts.
War Branch
War Branch
A USGS scientist with a handheld drill works on installing a monitoring box while a second scientist watches.
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
One scientist stands in a small rural creek while another prepares to hand her materials for building a monitoring structure.
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
Monitoring Station Installation at War Branch
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