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
USGS Hydrology Technicians measure peak flows after a recent storm in West Virginia
USGS Hydrology Technicians measure peak flows after a recent storm in West Virginia
Low-Level Flights to Image Geology Over Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Illinois
Low-Level Flights to Image Geology Over Parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Illinois
Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA February 2025 Seminar
Saline Lake Ecosystems IWAA February 2025 Seminar
Publications
Leveraging high-frequency sensor data and U.S. National Water Model output to forecast turbidity in a drinking water supply basin
As high-frequency sensor networks increasingly enhance data-driven models of water quality, process-based models like the U.S. National Water Model (NWM) are generating accessible forecasts of streamflow at increasingly dense scales. There is now an opportunity to combine these products to construct actionable water quality forecasts. To that end, we couple streamflow forecasts from the...
Analyzing multi-year nitrate concentration evolution in Alabama aquatic systems using a machine learning model
Rising nitrate contamination in water systems poses significant risks to public health and ecosystem stability, necessitating advanced modeling to understand nitrate dynamics more accurately. This study applies the long short-term memory (LSTM) modeling to investigate the hydrologic and environmental factors influencing nitrate concentration dynamics in rivers and aquifers across the...
Groundwater flowpath characteristics drive variability in per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) loading across a stream-wetland system
Groundwater-dependent ecosystems in areas with industrial land use are at risk of exposure to a PFAS chemicals. We investigated one such system with several known PFAS source areas, where high and low permeability sediments (glacial) coupled with groundwater-lake and groundwater/surface-water interactions created complex ‘source to seep’ dynamics. Using heat-tracing and chemical methods...
Science
Reconstructing Flow History From Riparian Tree Rings
FORT aquatic scientists analyze rings of riparian trees relating tree growth and establishment to historical flow. They then use the tree rings to reconstruct the flow in past centuries. Flow reconstructions discover the frequency and magnitude of past droughts and floods—information that is essential for management of rivers and water supplies. They have pioneered the use of cottonwood, a...
Pennsylvania Surface-Water Quality Monitoring Network
Pennsylvania’s Statewide Surface-Water Quality Monitoring Network (WQN) currently consists of 124 sites that are sampled between 6 and 20 times a year. Chemical analysis includes nutrient, major ions, and selected metals. Pesticide sampling is conducted twice a year at 5 locations. Biological sampling for benthic macroinvertebrates is conducted annually at 80 sites. The WQN was established to...
Linking Selenium Sources to Ecosystems: Understanding the Basis of Selenium Ecological Protection for Lake Koocanusa, a Transboundary Reservoir between Montana and British Columbia
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...