Projects

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.

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...

Chesapeake Bay region has the highest rate of relative sea-level rise on the Atlantic Coast of the United States, and data indicate that vertical land motion in the form of subsidence has been responsible for more than half the relative sea-level rise measured in the Chesapeake Bay region. The Chesapeake Bay Vertical Land Motion Project is a cooperative effort between the USGS and our many...

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...

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...

In recent years, hundreds of millions of dollars have been invested into the implementation of Best Management Practices in Fairfax County, Virginia, with the goal of improving water quality. Research has demonstrated that best management practices are effective at smaller scales, but less information is available to document the effectiveness of these best management practices at the watershed...

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.

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...

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...

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.

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.

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.