Science
The Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center conducts research and monitoring on a wide variety of hydrological issues affecting streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and groundwater in Wyoming and Montana, and across the Nation.
Science Topics
Education
From Gage to Page: A Look Into How USGS Helps You Know the Flow
Knowing the streamflow of a river is important for many. For example, irrigators need to know how the water can be allocated to fields, boaters need to know if the river is safe to float, and municipalities need to know how much supply will be at their intakes.
Establishing a Streamgage
Streamgages are structures that house equipment that measures and records stream stage and other parameters before transmitting that data to centralized computers via satellites.
Measuring Streamflow
Accurately measuring streamflow at each visit to the site is critical to streamgaging. The correct equipment for each stream during different seasons ensures the highest quality data are collected each time.