Web Tools provide interactive access to USGS information about California's water resources.
Denitrification Only Removes Minor Amounts of Nitrate in Eastern San Joaquin Valley Groundwater
Nitrate is a major concern to water-resource managers in the eastern San Joaquin Valley, and there are extensive regulatory programs in place that seek to reduce nonpoint-source loading and eventually reduce concentrations in groundwater.
Nothing Happens Right Away—Predicting Decreases in Nitrate Concentrations After Zero Loading is Achieved
This focuses on how we use groundwater age to predict changes in nitrate concentrations over time. Typically, deep public supply wells draw from deeper parts of the aquifer where water is decades, centuries, or even millenia old.
Irrigation Causes Naturally Occurring Uranium to Dissolve into Groundwater in the Eastern San Joaquin Valley
The USGS first identified uranium as a potential issue in California's groundwater during studies conducted in the Modesto area funded by the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program. Subsequently, the GAMA program undertook a broader analysis of uranium concentrations across the State.
Trends in Arsenic Concentrations in the San Joaquin Valley
Arsenic is known to be a problem in groundwater used for drinking water supplies in the San Joaquin Valley. About 10% of the are of groundwater resources used for public supply contain more than the USEPA MCL of 10 µg/L. Most public-supply and domestic wells currently yield groundwater with arsenic levels below 3 µg/L and do not exhibit trends in concentration.
Klamath Dam Removal Studies web map
This interactive webmap shows USGS dam removal monitoring locations in the Klamath River basin. Monitoring activities include: suspended-sediment, macroinvertebrates, suspended sediment sampling, topographic surveying, bathymetric surveying, geomorphologic mapping, and riparian vegetation mapping.
Watershed Monitoring in Clear Lake Tributaries
Data viewer that allows users to see the streamflow and water quality monitoring sites at Clear Lake and its tributaries. Data is from the USGS National Water Information System and California Department of Water Resources and Lake County databases.
Lake Tahoe Hydro Mapper
The Hydro Mapper is an interactive map viewer which allows users to see real-time information on stream flow discharge, stage, nutrient, turbidity, sediment loads, and storage data.
California Wildfires
Wildfires pose significant threat in an increasingly arid California landscape, threatening life, property, and air quality, and having long-term impacts on the state's water. Knowing the location and extent of wildfire events that effect California may help scientists and resource managers predict and manage potential impacts burns may have upon water quality, availability and movement.
The Mojave River: Lifeblood of the Desert
Take a 3D tour along the Mojave River and learn about its contribution to groundwater and surface water supply and the geologic characteristics that control it.
National Water Dashboard (NWD)
The National Water Dashboard (NWD) is a mobile, interactive tool that provides real-time information on water levels, weather, and flood forecasts - all in one place on a computer, smartphone, or other mobile device. The NWD presents real-time stream, lake and reservoir, precipitation, and groundwater data from more than 13,500 USGS observation stations across the country.
Bay-Delta Water Quality Survey, 2018 and 2020 Comparison
Delta Survey Data Visualization Contents for 2018 and 2020
From Snow to Flow (data visualization story)
A majority of the water in the western U.S. comes from snowmelt, but changes in the timing, magnitude, and duration of snowmelt can alter water availability downstream. This data visualization story explores what changing snowmelt means for water in the West, and how new USGS efforts can advance snow science by modeling snowpack and snowmelt dynamics and linking these results to streamflow.