Water Use

The USGS New England Water Science Center, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, is collaborating on a project to improve the data management, visualization, and sharing of the state’s water use information. Additionally, two water management tools will be upgraded. The project team will develop an Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs...

The Water Cycle Center is a cooperation between U.S. Geological Survey and academic partners in the Northeast that studies complete water cycles and watersheds, from mountaintops to shorelines, concentrating on freshwater ecosystems. This research advances the understanding of processes that determine water availability and is needed to best address future water resource challenges.

The Providence Water Supply Board (Providence Water) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are collaborating on a study to predict future water demand in and around the city of Providence.

The Scituate Reservoir system is the largest inland body of water in Rhode Island and the principal drinking-water supply for more than 60 percent of the State’s population. The system includes the Scituate Reservoir and five tributary reservoirs with a maximum storage capacity of 37 billion gallons. The drainage basin that contributes water to the reservoir extends across 93 square miles in...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. A summary for New England is presented on this web page. Water use estimates for 2000 through 2020 are now available for the three largest categories of use in the United States: self-supplied thermoelectric power generation, self-supplied...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

Background The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years between 1950 and 2015. - The New England Water Science Center (WSC) collected, reviewed, and aggregated water withdrawal data in Massachusetts from different sources (groundwater and surface water in both fresh and saline settings) as a part of the national effort...

The USGS, in cooperation with the Town of Barnstable and MassWildlife, is assessing the potential effects of new water-supply withdrawals on groundwater levels in the Hyannis Ponds Wildlife Management Area on Cape Cod. A groundwater-flow model is being used to simulate the effects of several possible withdrawal and wastewater-return flow scenarios developed by the Town of Barnstable and...