Publications
This list of Water Resources Mission Area publications includes both official USGS publications and journal articles authored by our scientists. A searchable database of all USGS publications can be accessed at the USGS Publications Warehouse.
Filter Total Items: 18486
State of science, gap analysis, and prioritization for southeastern United States water-quality impacts from coastal storms—Fiscal year 2023 program report to the Water Resources Mission Area from the Water Availability Impacts of Extreme Events Program—H
Tropical cyclones (coastal storm events that include tropical depressions, tropical storms, and hurricanes) cause landscape-scale disturbances that can lead to impaired water quality and thus reduce water availability for use. Stakeholders and scientists at local and national scales have illustrated a need for understanding these risks to water quality. A regional and comprehensive understanding o
Authors
Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Tara L. Root, Matthew D. Petkewich, MaryLynn Musgrove, Amy C. Gill, J. Curtis Weaver, Christopher H. Conaway, Bruce D. Lindsey, Francis Parchaso, Noah Knowles, Elizabeth J. Tomaszewski
Hyperspectral Image Transects during Transient Events in Rivers (HITTER): Framework development and application to a tracer experiment on the Missouri River, USA
Rivers convey a broad range of materials, such as sediment, nutrients, and contaminants. Much of this transport can occur during or immediately after an episodic, pulsed event like a flood or an oil spill. Understanding the flow processes that influence the motion of these substances is important for managing water resources and conserving aquatic ecosystems. This study introduces a new remote sen
Authors
Carl J. Legleiter, Victoria Mary Scholl, Brandon James Sansom, Matthew Alexander Burgess
Correlation analysis of groundwater and hydrologic data, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park, Hawai‘i
Designated in 1978, Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park is located on the west coast of the Island of Hawaiʻi. The Kaloko-Honokōhau National Historical Park encompasses about 1,200 acres of coastal land and nearshore ecosystems, which include wetlands, anchialine pools (landlocked bodies of brackish water with hydrologic connections to the ocean), fishponds, a fishtrap, and coral reefs. Thes
Authors
Brytne K. Okuhata, Delwyn S. Oki
Mixed contaminant exposure in tapwater and the potential implications for human-health in disadvantaged communities in California
Water is an increasingly precious resource in California as years of drought, climate change, pollution, as well as an expanding population have all stressed the state's drinking water supplies. Currently, there are increasing concerns about whether regulated and unregulated contaminants in drinking water are linked to a variety of human-health outcomes particularly in socially disadvantaged commu
Authors
Kelly Smalling, Kristin M. Romanok, Paul M. Bradley, Michelle Hladik, James L. Gray, Leslie K. Kanagy, R. Blaine McCleskey, Diana A. Stavreva, Annika K. Alexander-Ozinskas, Jesus Alonso, Wendy Avila, Sara E. Breitmeyer, Roberto Bustillo, Stephanie Gordon, Gordon L. Hager, Rena R. Jones, Dana W. Kolpin, Seth Newton, Peggy Reynolds, John Sloop, Andria Ventura, Julie Von Behren, Mary H. Ward, Gina M. Solomon
Quantifying fine sediment infiltration in spawning gravel used by Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Sauk River Basin, Washington, 2018–21
Fine sediment can infiltrate into river substrate that salmonid fish species (Oncorhynchus spp.) use to spawn. High levels of sediment infiltration can increase egg-to-fry mortality, which corresponds to the period when salmonids are still residing in the subsurface gravels. This study quantifies fine sediment infiltration of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning habitat during the eg
Authors
Kristin L. Jaeger, Scott W. Anderson, Anya C. Leach, Scott T. Morris
Evaluation of the lakes and impoundments drought index for the Massachusetts Drought Management Plan
The condition of surface water storage in lakes and impoundments is used as an index of drought in the Massachusetts drought management plan. The U.S. Geological Survey visited 28 of these lakes and impoundments at 14 single and multiple waterbody systems to evaluate their appropriateness for characterizing drought. The data collection and computation methods at each system were then reviewed and
Authors
Travis L. Smith
Estimating groundwater level records using MOVE.1 and computing monthly percentiles from estimated groundwater records in Massachusetts
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, performed record extensions on groundwater levels at select wells using the Maintenance of Variance Extension type 1 (MOVE.1) method. The groundwater levels estimated from these record extensions were used to compute monthly percentiles to improve future determinations of a groundwater index.
Authors
Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Dee-Ann E. Crozier
Simulated mean monthly groundwater-transported nitrogen loads in watersheds on the north shore of Long Island Sound, 1993–2022
Elevated nitrogen loads are pervasive in the Long Island Sound, an estuary that receives freshwater and nutrients from both surface-water and groundwater discharge. Surface-water nitrogen loads to the Long Island Sound are relatively well characterized, but less is known about groundwater-transported nitrogen loads. Prior work on the northern shore of Long Island Sound (Connecticut and areas of Ne
Authors
Janet R. Barclay, Madeleine J. Holland, John R. Mullaney
Groundwater quality near the Placerita Oil Field, California, 2018
Groundwater-quality data and potential fluid-migration pathways near the Placerita Oil Field in Los Angeles County, California, were examined by the U.S. Geological Survey to determine if oil-field fluids (water and gas from oil-producing and non-producing zones) have mixed with groundwater resources. Six of the 13 new groundwater samples collected for this study contained petroleum hydrocarbons,
Authors
Jennifer S. Stanton, Matthew K. Landon, David H. Shimabukuro, Justin T. Kulongoski, Andrew G. Hunt, Peter B. McMahon, Isabelle M. Cozzarelli, Robert Anders, Theron A. Sowers
Factors contributing to pesticide contamination in riverine systems: The role of wastewater and landscape sources
Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharges can be a source of organic contaminants, including pesticides, to rivers. An integrated model was developed for the Potomac River watershed (PRW) to determine the amount of accumulated wastewater percentage of streamflow (ACCWW) and calculate predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) for 14 pesticides in non-tidal National Hydrography Dataset Plus V
Authors
Samuel Adam Miller, Kaycee E. Faunce, Larry B. Barber, Jacob Fleck, Daniel Walter Burns, Jeramy Roland Jasmann, Michelle Hladik
Pesticides in surface water downstream of and near agricultural and developed land in Hawai‘i, 2015–19
Pesticides and pesticide degradates (herein referred to as pesticides) in surface water were assessed at 78 sites on 4 Hawaiian Islands (Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui, and Island of Hawaiʻi) during 2015–19. Each site was downstream of or near agricultural land, developed land, or both. Most (58) sites were streams; the remaining sites were canals, ditches, anchialine pools, coastal ponds, and the nearshore
Authors
Adam G. Johnson, Joseph J. Kennedy, David A. Alvarez
Evaluation and review of ecology-focused stream studies to support cooperative monitoring, Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Colorado Springs Utilities and Colorado Springs Stormwater Enterprise, synthesized previous studies and evaluated recent monitoring data to understand the distribution of fish and invertebrates in the Fountain Creek Basin and documented response to streamflow, water temperature, and water quality. The goal was to identify opportunities for aligning d
Authors
Robert E. Zuellig, Charles F. Wahl, Erin K. Hennessy, Alex Jouney, Paul Foutz