Water Quality

Lake Koocanusa (Koocanusa Reservoir) is a transboundary reservoir located in southeastern British Columbia and northwestern Montana.

The USGS WY-MT Water Science Center operates streamgages in the Snake River Basin in Wyoming that report streamflow in the mainstem of the Snake River and tributary streams. During the spring of 2022, in cooperation with the Teton Conservation District, thermistors were installed at six sites in the basin to record and report water temperature data. There are currently 12 sites in the basin that...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has collected water-quality samples from selected stream sites upstream from Missoula since 1985.

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...

The Blacks Fork is a stream that contributes a salinity load to the Colorado River Basin. In order to quantify the salinity load, collection of continuous streamflow and specific conductance data, and monthly sampling for total-dissolved solids will occur from April 2018 through September 2019. Calculations of monthly and annual salinity loading from the Blacks Fork were published in 2021.

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 USGS monitors stream water quality in Wyoming and Montana in cooperation with State, County, local, and other Federal agencies. Water-quality data for these sites are available from the USGS National Water Information System Web Mapper application in the form of an interactive map that can be accessed from the Data and Tools tab.

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...

Naegleria fowleri ( N. fowleri) commonly referred to as the "brain-eating amoeba", is a thermophilic free-living amoeba found in warm and hot surface water that include freshwater ponds, lakes, rivers, and hot springs (Yoder and others. 2010).

The USGS monitors stream water quality in Wyoming and Montana in cooperation with State, County, local, and other Federal agencies. Water-quality data for these sites are available from the USGS National Water Information System Web Mapper application in the form of an interactive map.

Every day, millions of gallons of groundwater are pumped to supply drinking water for about 140 million people, almost one-half of the Nation’s population. Learn about the quality and availability of groundwater for drinking, where and why groundwater quality is degraded, and where groundwater quality is changing.