USGS releases a comprehensive look at water resources in the United States
New National Water Availability Assessment offers critical insights into water supply, demand, and quality across the Nation.
New National Water Availability Assessment offers critical insights into water supply, demand, and quality across the Nation.
Water Resources Mission Area
Water information is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management of the Nation’s water resources. The USGS works with partners to monitor, assess, conduct targeted research, and deliver information on a wide range of water resources and conditions including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability.
Message from the Associate Director
Message from the Associate Director
Learn more about the Mission Area from the Associate Director for Water Resources.
Water Data for the Nation
Water Data for the Nation
Water data collected at approximately 1.9 million sites across all 50 states.
News
Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA February 2025 Seminar
Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA February 2025 Seminar
USGS releases a comprehensive look at water resources in the United States
USGS releases a comprehensive look at water resources in the United States
From Lake to Table: $3 Million Investment Helps Track Great Salt Lake's Future
From Lake to Table: $3 Million Investment Helps Track Great Salt Lake's Future
Publications
Relationship of atmospheric nitrogen deposition to soil nitrogen cycling along an elevation gradient in the Colorado Front Range
Microbial processing of atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition regulates the retention and mobilization of N in soils, with important implications for water quality. Understanding the links between N deposition, microbial communities, N transformations, and water quality is critical as N deposition shifts toward reduced N and remains persistently high in many regions. Here, we investigated...
Integrated water availability in the conterminous United States, 2010–20
Water availability is defined as the spatial and temporal distribution of water quantity and quality as it relates to the needs of humans and ecosystems. Broad assessment of water availability requires the consideration of multiple indicators because water users have different sensitivities to the degradation of water conditions. This chapter draws upon estimates of water supply, water...
Climate change and future water availability in the United States
The steady rise in global temperature as a result of human activity is causing changes in Earth’s water cycle. The balance of water stored within and moving between vapor, liquid, and frozen states in the water cycle is shifting, with consequences for water availability that include increases in drought, fire weather, flooding, and heavy precipitation, as well as cryosphere decline and...
Science
National Water Availability Assessments
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
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.
USGS Integrated Drought Science Plan
The USGS National Integrated Drought Science Plan seeks to improve understanding of drought processes and impacts on human and natural systems through coordinated and multidisciplinary data collection, synthesis, analysis, and predictions generated from Mission Areas and a variety of partnerships. The long-term goal is to provide decision support tools and technologies to stakeholders for...