Water Availability and Use

Scatter Creek, a tributary to the Chehalis River, WA, experiences summer conditions that threaten native fish populations. Each year, parts of Scatter Creek go dry. Dry stretches of stream disconnect the habitat, so that fish can’t move upstream and downstream. Some of the water flowing through streams may seep into the ground and enter aquifers, meaning that the water is lost from the stream. The...

Not all rivers and streams flow year-round. Understanding when and where streams flow or go dry is critical for managing land use, water quality, and water availability on landscapes. The USGS and partners are studying streamflow permanence in the Pacific Northwest. We are gathering data, developing new models, and providing data visualization and outreach tools.

The Issue: Forests in the Pacific Northwest have changed substantially over the past hundred years because of logging, changing forest management methods, and climate change. These forests contain a dense network of small headwater streams that supply cold, clean water and support 52 amphibian species. These amphibians live both in the cold streams and in the cool, moist areas nearby. Natural...

The Issue: Changes in the water temperature and flow regimes of rivers throughout the western United States have contributed to shifts in the ranges of aquatic species that they support. Cold-water species such as fish are sensitive to changes in water temperature, which regulates their physiological functions and behavior. How USGS will help: A spatial stream network (SSN) model was developed...

The Issue: Ice jams can occur at the outlet of Osoyoos Lake on the border of Canada and the United States, resulting in a decrease or complete interruption in streamflow on the Okanogan River. These ice jams appear to be occurring at a greater frequency than they have in the past and interruptions in streamflow can hinder the passage of anadromous fish and impact downstream water rights and water...

The Issue: The White River/Sunrise area of Mount Rainier National Park currently uses surface water for supplying water to local visitor and operational facilities. The Park is considering instead to use groundwater supplies that would likely be more resilient and less prone to contamination, but they need a better understanding of groundwater in the upper White River watershed to assure that park...

The Issue: Native American treaty rights depend on the availability of adequate and high-quality streamflow across the Western Washington, which can be degraded by water and land use, reservoir operations, and climate change among other factors. Streamflow during critical low-flow periods depend on groundwater discharge from aquifers, which also is vulnerable to human activities in the Western...

The Issue: The Visualizing Ecosystem Land Management Assessments (VELMA) model is a spatially explicit, eco-hydrological watershed model that was developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The VELMA model can be used to examine a wide variety of environmental systems; however, an area where the model could be improved is in its accounting of the interaction of groundwater and...

The Issue: Past activities at Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM)—located in west-central Washington—resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). PFAS can enter groundwater and travel through the subsurface. Water-resource managers need to understand where groundwater flows in order...

The Issue: The Yakima Training Center (YTC)—spanning Yakima and Kittitas counties in south-central Washington—is a satellite installation of Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is used for military training (fig. 1). Past activities at the YTC have resulted in releases of hazardous waste and contaminants to the environment, and the most recent chemical of concern is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances...

The Issue: In Pierce County, Washington, much of the stormwater runoff is managed by underground injection control (UIC) structures, such as dry wells, infiltration trenches, and catch basins. Stormwater is directed into UIC structures to prevent poor-quality water from entering streams. This is good for stream health because stormwater is directed away from streams and into the ground, but there...

The Issue: Streamflow permanence refers to the probability that a stream will lose surface flow (become a dry channel), as well as the timing, duration, and frequency of drying. Patterns of streamflow permanence drive important decisions regarding forest management and other land uses. The Colville National Forest Land and Resource Management Plan (2019), for example, specifies riparian management...