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Water Quality

WAWSC water quality activities provide a better understanding of water-quality conditions in WA and help predict potential changes and risks associated with observed water-quality conditions. These activities include identifying whether the abundance of aquatics contaminants and the exposure to them are getting better or worse over time; and how natural features and human activities affect those conditions. We also provide information and tools that assist facility managers develop strategies to control the release of hazardous chemicals into the environment, and to more effectively mitigate damages caused by past discharges. Tools developed by the WAWSC include predictive models, flow path models, and mass balance models that can be utilized by resource managers to more effectively evaluate the sources, fate, and transport of dispersed groundwater and surface water contamination in drinking water supplies and in aquatic ecosystems.

Filter Total Items: 54

Simulated groundwater flow paths and travel times near Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington

The Issue: Past activities at Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM)—located in west-central Washington—resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are a broad class of anthropogenic chemicals used in industrial and consumer products for their stain- and water-resistant properties...
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Simulated groundwater flow paths and travel times near Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Washington

The Issue: Past activities at Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM)—located in west-central Washington—resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS are a broad class of anthropogenic chemicals used in industrial and consumer products for their stain- and water-resistant properties...
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Hydrogeologic framework near the Yakima Training Center, Washington

The Issue: The Yakima Training Center (YTC)—spanning Yakima and Kittitas counties in south-central Washington—is a satellite installation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is used for military training (fig. 1). Past activities at the YTC have resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...
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Hydrogeologic framework near the Yakima Training Center, Washington

The Issue: The Yakima Training Center (YTC)—spanning Yakima and Kittitas counties in south-central Washington—is a satellite installation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is used for military training (fig. 1). Past activities at the YTC have resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...
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Groundwater Model Support for Underground Injection Control Analysis, Clover Creek Watershed

The Issue: In Pierce County, Washington, much of the stormwater runoff is managed by underground injection control (UIC) structures, such as dry wells, infiltration trenches, and catch basins. Stormwater is directed into UIC structures to prevent poor-quality water from entering streams. This is good for stream health because stormwater is directed away from streams and into the ground, but there...
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Groundwater Model Support for Underground Injection Control Analysis, Clover Creek Watershed

The Issue: In Pierce County, Washington, much of the stormwater runoff is managed by underground injection control (UIC) structures, such as dry wells, infiltration trenches, and catch basins. Stormwater is directed into UIC structures to prevent poor-quality water from entering streams. This is good for stream health because stormwater is directed away from streams and into the ground, but there...
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Puget Sound, WA Nutrient SPARROW Model

The Issue: Puget Sound watershed nutrient loads are known to have an impact on marine water quality along with wastewater treatment plants discharging to Puget Sound. To effectively reduce and control nutrient loads to the Sound, the Washington State Department of Ecology needs a regional watershed model that fits within their Puget Sound Nutrient Source Reduction Project’s management framework...
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Puget Sound, WA Nutrient SPARROW Model

The Issue: Puget Sound watershed nutrient loads are known to have an impact on marine water quality along with wastewater treatment plants discharging to Puget Sound. To effectively reduce and control nutrient loads to the Sound, the Washington State Department of Ecology needs a regional watershed model that fits within their Puget Sound Nutrient Source Reduction Project’s management framework...
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Analysis of USGS Surface Water Monitoring Networks

The issue: National interests in water information are important but challenging to incorporate into planning and operation of a monitoring network driven by local information needs. These interests include an understanding of the spatial variability in water availability across the United States, anthro-physical factors including climate and land use that affect water availability, and federal...
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Analysis of USGS Surface Water Monitoring Networks

The issue: National interests in water information are important but challenging to incorporate into planning and operation of a monitoring network driven by local information needs. These interests include an understanding of the spatial variability in water availability across the United States, anthro-physical factors including climate and land use that affect water availability, and federal...
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Nooksack river basin continuous nitrate monitoring

The issue: Learning more about where and how much nitrates there are in the Nooksack river basin. How USGS will help: Provide continuous nitrate concentration data at three locations. Provide validation water samples analyzing for nitrate concentration. Compute nitrate load estimates using stream discharge data coupled with newly collected nitrate concentration data.
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Nooksack river basin continuous nitrate monitoring

The issue: Learning more about where and how much nitrates there are in the Nooksack river basin. How USGS will help: Provide continuous nitrate concentration data at three locations. Provide validation water samples analyzing for nitrate concentration. Compute nitrate load estimates using stream discharge data coupled with newly collected nitrate concentration data.
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Assessment of Sediment Quality and Volume behind Enloe Dam

The Issue: The Enloe Dam, a 100-yr old structure on the Similkameen River in Washington State, has not produced hydropower since 1958 and options are being considered for potential removal of the dam. The concentrations of sediment contaminants (primarily trace elements from a long history of mining and smelting operations in the US and Canada) trapped by Enloe Dam are unknown and may be high...
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Assessment of Sediment Quality and Volume behind Enloe Dam

The Issue: The Enloe Dam, a 100-yr old structure on the Similkameen River in Washington State, has not produced hydropower since 1958 and options are being considered for potential removal of the dam. The concentrations of sediment contaminants (primarily trace elements from a long history of mining and smelting operations in the US and Canada) trapped by Enloe Dam are unknown and may be high...
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Water Temperature Mapping in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish River Basins

Over the past two decades water temperatures in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish River basins has frequently exceeded temperature criteria established to protect Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and bull trout. These rivers combine in Monroe, WA to form the Snohomish River, the second largest producer of Chinook salmon in Puget Sound. The effects of high water...
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Water Temperature Mapping in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish River Basins

Over the past two decades water temperatures in the Snoqualmie and Skykomish River basins has frequently exceeded temperature criteria established to protect Endangered Species Act-listed Chinook salmon, steelhead trout, and bull trout. These rivers combine in Monroe, WA to form the Snohomish River, the second largest producer of Chinook salmon in Puget Sound. The effects of high water...
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Hydrochemical Analysis of Groundwater in Jewel Cave National Monument

The Issue: The park’s landscape and geomorphology is characterized as a carbonate karst environment, with sinking streams and fast connections between surface water and groundwater, resulting in high vulnerability of contamination to groundwater. Now that subterranean lakes have been discovered in Jewel Cave, understanding the groundwater connection of the lakes therein to the lakes in nearby Wind...
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Hydrochemical Analysis of Groundwater in Jewel Cave National Monument

The Issue: The park’s landscape and geomorphology is characterized as a carbonate karst environment, with sinking streams and fast connections between surface water and groundwater, resulting in high vulnerability of contamination to groundwater. Now that subterranean lakes have been discovered in Jewel Cave, understanding the groundwater connection of the lakes therein to the lakes in nearby Wind...
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Sumas River Sediment Load

The Issue: A large, clay-rich active landslide on the western flank of Sumas Mountain in Whatcom County, Washington, is a significant source of sediment to Swift Creek and the salmon-bearing Sumas River. The landslide contains naturally occurring serpentinite that weathers to chrysotile asbestos and elevated levels of metals. The asbestos load in water as well as deposits along the banks and flood...
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Sumas River Sediment Load

The Issue: A large, clay-rich active landslide on the western flank of Sumas Mountain in Whatcom County, Washington, is a significant source of sediment to Swift Creek and the salmon-bearing Sumas River. The landslide contains naturally occurring serpentinite that weathers to chrysotile asbestos and elevated levels of metals. The asbestos load in water as well as deposits along the banks and flood...
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Elwha River Sediment Monitoring

The Issue: The Elwha River Restoration Project is the largest single restoration action planned for the Puget Sound region in the foreseeable future and is a high priority for the Puget Sound Partnership. Beginning in 2011, two large dams on the Elwha River in Clallam County, Washington, will be removed by the National Park Service over about two and a half years. During removal, sediment...
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Elwha River Sediment Monitoring

The Issue: The Elwha River Restoration Project is the largest single restoration action planned for the Puget Sound region in the foreseeable future and is a high priority for the Puget Sound Partnership. Beginning in 2011, two large dams on the Elwha River in Clallam County, Washington, will be removed by the National Park Service over about two and a half years. During removal, sediment...
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Keyport Groundwater Model

The Issue: Chlorinated volatile organic compounds have impacted groundwater beneath a former 9-acre landfill at OU 1 of the Naval Base Kitsap Keyport, Washington. The landfill is adjacent to tidal flats that are an extension of Liberty and Dogfish Bays and was the primary disposal area for domestic and industrial waste generated by NBK Keyport from the 1930s through 1973. The Navy needs a detailed...
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Keyport Groundwater Model

The Issue: Chlorinated volatile organic compounds have impacted groundwater beneath a former 9-acre landfill at OU 1 of the Naval Base Kitsap Keyport, Washington. The landfill is adjacent to tidal flats that are an extension of Liberty and Dogfish Bays and was the primary disposal area for domestic and industrial waste generated by NBK Keyport from the 1930s through 1973. The Navy needs a detailed...
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