Agriculture, Livestock, and Aquaculture

To manage our water resources effectively, we need to understand how much water is available and its usefulness. The USGS monitors the nation’s water resources through various national observing networks that use a range of technologies and methods to assess real-time water conditions and predict future changes in water availability for human and ecological uses.

This case-study of selenium pollution of Lake Koocanusa from coal mining in the upper Elk and Fording River watersheds relates to an overall goal of linking geologic source selenium dynamics to hydrological, biochemical, and ecological selenium dynamics. This type of approach enables a realistic understanding of the causes of uncertainty (for example, management alternatives for upstream selenium...

The USGS National Water Availability Assessment consists of reports, which provide a scientific summary and interpretation of water quantity, quality and use, and the data companion, which delivers model-based estimates of water supply and demand.

Regional Water Availability Assessments are scientific assessments of water availability in different hydrologic regions across the Nation. They are designed to capture a range of conditions in major drivers of water availability.

The USGS Water Resources Mission Area is assessing how much water is available for human and ecological needs in the United States and identifying where and when the Nation may have challenges meeting its demand for water.

The USGS Water Resources Mission Area is assessing how much water is available for human and ecological needs in the United States and identifying where and when the Nation may have challenges meeting its demand for water.

The Willamette River Basin reflects the conflicting water demands between humans and ecosystems—particularly salmon— and the challenge resource managers face throughout the Pacific Northwest.

Get access to spatial datasets related to water through the NSDI node on ScienceBase.

Through the Water Availability and Use Science Program, USGS will provide national information on withdrawal, conveyance, consumptive use, and return flow by water-use category at spatial and temporal resolutions important for risk-informed water management decisions. Water-use data provide a foundation for water managers to analyze trends over time, plan more strategically, identify, and...

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 irrigation, and public supply. Five additional categories of use (self-supplied industrial, domestic, mining, livestock, and aquaculture) will be available in 2025.

Regional Water Availability Assessments are scientific assessments of water availability in different hydrologic regions across the Nation. In the Upper Colorado River Basin, the USGS will conduct a focused assessment of how snowpack and snowmelt influence hydrology and water quality, and an integrated and comprehensive assessment of multiple water quantity, quality and use factors.

Regional Water Availability Assessments are scientific assessments of water availability in different hydrologic regions across the Nation. In the Delaware River Basin, the USGS will conduct a focused assessment of increasing freshwater salinity and an integrated and comprehensive assessment of multiple water quantity, quality and use factors.