Water Resources
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.
Assessment of soil and water resources in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico
The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument (Monument) in southern New Mexico was established in 2014. Given anticipated future demands in the Monument for recreation, livestock grazing, and maintenance of rights-of-way (for example, pipelines and powerlines), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) needs a better understanding of the current...
Blake, Johanna M.; Mitchell, Aurelia C.; Shephard, Zachary; Ball, Grady; Chavarria, Shaleene; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle R.
Multiple-well monitoring site adjacent to the Lost Hills oil field, Kern County, California
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the California State Water Resources Control Board, is evaluating several questions about oil and gas development and groundwater resources in California, including (1) the location of groundwater resources; (2) the proximity of oil and gas operations and groundwater and the geologic materials...
Everett, Rhett R.; Kjos, Adam; Brown, Anthony A.; Gillespie, Janice M.; McMahon, Peter B.
Hydrogeology and interactions of groundwater and surface water near Mill Creek and the Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 2017–18
Groundwater levels and stream stage were monitored by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Friends of Herring River, at 19 sites in the Mill Creek Basin, a tributary of the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, on outer Cape Cod, to provide baseline data prior to a proposed restoration of tidal flow to the Herring River estuary...
Mullaney, John R.; Barclay, Janet R.; Laabs, Kaitlin L. ; Lavallee, Katherine D.
Spectral analysis to quantify the response of groundwater levels to precipitation—Northwestern United States
Persistent atmospheric patterns that lead to wet and dry seasons and droughts over periods of months to decades and longer-term climate change over periods of decades to millennia affect groundwater resources. Changes in groundwater storage and the resulting groundwater discharge from most aquifers is relatively slow and steady compared to the...
Long, Andrew J.; Konrad, Christopher P.
Mixed organic and inorganic tapwater exposures and potential effects in greater Chicago area, USA
Safe drinking water at the point of use (tapwater, TW) is a public-health priority. TW exposures and potential human-health concerns of 540 organics and 35 inorganics were assessed in 45 Chicago area United States (US) homes in 2017. No US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level(s) (MCL) were exceeded in any...
Bradley, Paul; Argos, Maria; Kolpin, Dana W.; Meppelink, Shannon M.; Romanok, Kristin; Smalling, Kelly; Focazio, Michael J.; Allen, Joshua M.; Dietze, Julie E.; Devito, Michael J.; Donovan, Ariel; Evans, Nicola; Givens, Carrie E.; Gray, James L.; Higgins, Christopher P.; Hladik, Michelle; Iwanowicz, Luke; Journey, Celeste; Lane, Rachael; Laughrey, Zachary; Loftin, Keith A.; McCleskey, R. Blaine; McDonough, Carrie A.; Medlock Kakaley, Elizabeth K; Meyer, Michael T.; Holthouse-Putz, Andrea; Richardson, Susan D; Stark, Alan ; Weis, Christopher P.; Wilson, Vickie S.; Zehraoui, Abderrahman
Hydrogeologic characterization, groundwater chemistry, and vulnerability assessment, Ute Mountain Ute Reservation, Colorado and Utah
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe (UMUT), initiated a study in 2016 to increase understanding of the hydrogeology and chemistry of groundwater within select areas of the Ute Mountain Ute Reservation (UMUR) in Colorado and Utah, identify vulnerabilities to the system and other natural resources, and outline...
Bauch, Nancy J.; Arnold, L. Rick
Groundwater withdrawals and regional flow paths at and near Willow Grove and Warminster, Pennsylvania—Data compilation and preliminary simulations for conditions in 1999, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2017
In 2014, groundwater samples from residential and public supply wells in the vicinity of two former U.S. Navy bases at Willow Grove and Warminster, and an active Air National Guard Station at Horsham, Bucks and Montgomery Counties, Pennsylvania, were found to have concentrations of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS...
Goode, Daniel J.; Senior, Lisa A. Holocene paleofloods and their climatological context, Upper Colorado River Basin, USA
Given its singular importance for water resources in the southwestern U.S., the Upper Colorado River Basin (UCRB) is remarkable for the paucity of its conventional hydrological record of extreme flooding. This study uses paleoflood hydrology to examine a small portion the underutilized, but very extensive natural record of Holocene extreme floods...
Liu, Taojun; Lin Ji; Baker, Victor R.; Harden, Tessa M.; Cline, Michael L. Preferential elution of ionic solutes in melting snowpacks: Improving process understanding through field observations and modeling in the Rocky Mountains
The preferential elution of ions from melting snowpacks is a complex problem that has been linked to temporary acidification of water bodies. However, the understanding of these processes in snowpacks around the world, including the polar regions that are experiencing unprecedented warming and melting, remains limited despite being instrumental in...
Costa, Diogo; Sexstone, Graham A.; Pomeroy, J.W.; Campbell, Donald H.; Clow, David W.; Mast, Alisa
Groundwater availability of the Northern High Plains aquifer in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming
Executive SummaryThe Northern High Plains aquifer underlies about 93,000 square miles of Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming and is the largest subregion of the nationally important High Plains aquifer. Irrigation, primarily using groundwater, has supported agricultural production since before 1940, resulting in nearly $50...
Peterson, Steven M.; Traylor, Jonathan P.; Guira, Moussa The response of stream ecosystems in the Adirondack region of New York to historical and future changes in atmospheric deposition of sulfur and nitrogen
The present-day acid-base chemistry of surface waters can be directly linked to contemporary observations of acid deposition; however, pre-industrial conditions are key to predicting the potential future recovery of stream ecosystems under decreasing loads of atmospheric sulfur (S) and nitrogen (N) deposition. The integrated biogeochemical model...
Shao, Shuai; Driscoll, Charles T.; Sullivan, Timothy J.; Burns, Douglas A.; Baldigo, Barry P.; Lawrence, Gregory B.; McDonnell, Todd C.
Numerical simulation of groundwater availability in central Moloka‘i, Hawai‘i
Since the 1990s, increased chloride concentrations of water pumped from wells (much of which is used for drinking water) and the effects of withdrawals on groundwater-dependent ecosystems have led to concerns over groundwater availability on the island of Molokaʻi, Hawaiʻi. An improved understanding of the hydrologic effects of proposed...
Oki, Delwyn S.; Engott, John A.; Rotzoll, Kolja