Toxic Substances Hydrology

U.S. Geological Survey scientists and partners will inject a harmless, bright red fluorescent dye into the Kansas River at Eudora July 7-9, weather permitting.

Multiple detections of regulated and unregulated chemical (inorganic, organic) analytes or elements were detected in both privately and publicly supplied tap water samples from 20 residences in Cape Cod, Massachusetts that share a common source of water.

A comparison of regional mercury atmospheric deposition data with water, yellow perch, and dragonfly larvae samples from lakes in Voyageurs National Park indicates that decreases in mercury emissions resulted in mercury reduction in water from these remote lakes, but mercury declines in biota were significant in only one of three lakes.

U.S. Geological Survey and partners will inject a harmless, bright red fluorescent dye into the Kansas River on April 29, weather permitting. The study is being done by the USGS in cooperation with the Kansas Water Office, Kansas Department of Health and Environment, The Nature Conservancy, City of Manhattan, City of Topeka, City of Olathe, City of Lawrence, and WaterOne.

Scientists coupled the concepts of energy flow through food webs with measurements of mercury in organic matter and animals to estimate mercury fluxes and fate during an experimental flood in the Colorado River. The flood redistributed mercury in simple,...

Fish mercury data from State monitoring programs and research studies within the Chesapeake Bay were compiled and summarized to provide a comprehensive overview of the variation in fish mercury concentrations among species and habitats within the watershed...

The current state of knowledge on the modes of action, production, fate, and occurrence of the freshwater cyanobacterial neurotoxins, anatoxin-a and saxitoxin, was reviewed and synthesized to identify gaps and critical research needs to better...

A conceptual model, based on contaminant properties and ecotoxicological principles, was developed to understand the transfer of contaminants from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems and the effects of various classes of contaminants on terrestrial...

Study Shows Water Quality Minimally Affected by Artificial Recharge

A joint collaboration between EPA, NOAA, NASA, and USGS scientists has demonstrated that satellite imagery can be used to track the frequency of harmful algal blooms.  The satellites can accomplish this by measuring certain algal pigments in the water.

A new U.S. Geological Survey study that looked at the extensive harmful algal bloom that plagued Florida last year found far more types of cyanobacteria present than previously known.