Characterizing Groundwater

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative is a long-term science-based effort to assess and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitats at a landscape scale in southwest Wyoming, while facilitating responsible development through local collaboration and partnerships. The WLCI is an interagency working group of partners that is beginning the process of establishing a much larger coalition of...

Wyoming's groundwater and streams are routinely monitored for pesticides. In order to balance the use of pesticides (herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides) with the protection of water resources, the Wyoming Department of Agriculture began a project to sample groundwater in 1995, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey. Since the project's inception, more than 750 samples from...

Riparian and aquatic ecosystems in semiarid landscapes like Southwest Wyoming contribute substantially to regional biodiversity. Long-term monitoring data that describe streamflow, surface-water quality, and groundwater levels are needed for assessing possible effects of changes in land use on those ecosystems.

The Flaxville aquifer is present in the northern and central parts of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and consists of sand and gravel that forms extensive plateaus and topographic benches used for dryland farming. Because many residents rely on groundwater as their primary water supply on the Reservation, the Flaxville and underlying aquifers are important sources of groundwater. The goal of this...

Brine Contamination to Plains and Potholes Environments from Energy Development in the Williston Basin

Projects conducted by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT) sometimes result in unavoidable impacts to wetlands and other aquatic habitats. To compensate for these impacts, MDT mitigates the loss of wetlands by providing replacement wetlands within the watershed.

As a result of energy development, the Blackfeet Environmental Office has developed a groundwater monitoring program specifically focused on the Cut Bank Creek watershed of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. The addition of groundwater data to an existing surface-water monitoring program will help the Blackfeet Tribe develop a more complete understanding of the current conditions of their water...

In 2008 the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Jackson Hole Airport Board and Teton Conservation District, began a study designed to characterize the alluvial aquifer at the Jackson Hole Airport. The purpose of this study was to determine the direction of groundwater flow, calculate hydraulic gradients, and characterize groundwater quality both upgradient and downgradient of airport...

Brine is a byproduct of crude oil production. Handling and disposal of brine during the last 50 years in the East Poplar oil field has resulted in contamination of not only the shallow Quaternary aquifers, but also the Poplar River. Previous investigations have documented and partially delineated the extent of brine contamination in the East Poplar oil field during the early 1990s. In the 10 years...

The development of two nationally important energy-producing areas, the Williston structural basin (containing the Bakken Formation) and Powder River structural basin, provide a critical opportunity to study the water-energy nexus within a groundwater context. Large volumes of water are needed for energy development in these basins. The hydraulically connected aquifers in the regional glacial...

The Lame Deer Creek watershed of the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in southeastern Montana encompasses about 82 square miles and is home to the community of Lame Deer. Local water resources within the Lame Deer Creek watershed include Lame Deer Creek and groundwater within unconsolidated sediments and bedrock aquifers. In 2017 the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Northern Cheyenne...

The Yellowstone River Basin (YELL) study-unit in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, is part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground-water resources, and to provide a sound, scientific understanding of...