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.
Reduction in drinking water arsenic exposure and health risk through arsenic treatment among private well households in Maine and New Jersey, USA
Over 2 million people in the United States (U.S.) drink water from private wells that contain arsenic (As) exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) of 10 micrograms per liter (μg/L). While there are a number of commercially available treatment technologies for removing As from drinking water, it is...
Yang, Qiang; Flanagan, Sara J.; Chillrud, Steven; Ross, James; Zeng, Wenke; Culbertson, Charles W.; Spayd, Steve; Backer, Lorraine C.; Smith, Andrew E.; Zheng, Yan
Water-quality, bed-sediment, and invertebrate tissue trace-element concentrations for tributaries in the Clark Fork Basin, Montana, October 2017–September 2018
Water, bed sediment, and invertebrate tissue were sampled in streams from Butte to near Missoula, Montana, as part of a monitoring program in the Clark Fork Basin. The sampling program was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to characterize aquatic resources in the Clark Fork Basin...
Clark, Gregory D.; Hornberger, Michelle I.; Cleasby, Thomas E.; Heinert, Terry L.; Turner, Matthew A.
Modeling Escherichia coli in the Missouri River near Omaha, Nebraska, 2012–16
The city of Omaha, Nebraska, has a combined sewer system in some areas of the city. In Omaha, Nebr., a moderate amount of rainfall will lead to the combination of stormwater and untreated sewage or wastewater being discharged directly into the Missouri River and Papillion Creek and is called a combined sewer overflow (CSO) event. In 2009, the city...
Densmore, Brenda K.; Hall, Brent M.; Moser, Matthew T. Comparing trends in modeled and observed streamflows at minimally altered basins in the United States
We compared modeled and observed streamflow trends from 1984–2016 using five statistical transfer models and one deterministic, distributed-parameter, process-based model, for 26 flow metrics at 502 basins in the United States that are minimally influenced by development. We also looked at a measure of overall model fit and average bias. A higher...
Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dudley, Robert; Russell, Amy M.; LaFontaine, Jacob H.
Conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geoenvironmental assessment of undiscovered uranium resources
This report presents a novel conceptual framework and approach for conducting a geologically based environmental assessment, or geoenvironmental assessment, of undiscovered uranium resources within an area likely to contain uranium deposits. The framework is based on a source-to-receptor model that prioritizes the most likely contaminant sources,...
Gallegos, Tanya J.; Walton-Day, Katherine; Seal, Robert R.
Updating data inputs, assessing trends, and evaluating a method to estimate probable high groundwater levels in selected areas of Massachusetts
A method to estimate the probable high groundwater level in Massachusetts, excluding Cape Cod and the islands, was developed in 1981. The method uses a groundwater measurement from a test site, groundwater measurements from an index well, and a distribution of high groundwater levels from wells in similar geologic and topographic settings. The U.S...
Barclay, Janet R.; Mullaney, John R. Snow processes in mountain forests: Interception modeling for coarse-scale applications
Snow interception by the forest canopy controls the spatial heterogeneity of subcanopy snow accumulation leading to significant differences between forested and nonforested areas at a variety of scales. Snow intercepted by the forest canopy can also drastically change the surface albedo. As such, accurately modeling snow interception is of...
Helbig, N.; Moeser, C. David; Teich, M.; Vincent, L.; Lejeune, Y.; Sicart, J.-E.; Monnet, J.-M. Regional patterns in hydrologic response, a new three-component metric for hydrograph analysis and implications for ecohydrology, Northwest Volcanic Aquifer Study Area, USA
Study RegionOregon, California, Idaho, Nevada and UtahStudy FocusSpatial patterns of hydrologic response were examined for the Northwest Volcanic Aquifer Study Area (NVASA). The utility of established hydrograph-separation methods for assessing hydrologic response in permeable volcanic terranes was assessed and a new three-component metric for...
Curtis, Jennifer A.; Burns, Erick; Sando, Roy
Statewide assessment of karst aquifers in New York with an inventory of closed-depression and focused-recharge features
Karst is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rock or rock containing minerals that are easily dissolved from within the rock. The landscape is characterized by sinkholes, caves, losing streams, springs, and underground drainage systems, which rapidly move water through the karst. The two forms of karst in New York State include...
Kappel, William M.; Reddy, James E.; Root, Jonathan C.
Groundwater levels and generalized potentiometric surfaces, former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, New Jersey, 2018
Groundwater-level conditions, generalized groundwater potentiometric surfaces, and generalized flow directions at the decommissioned Naval Air Warfare Center in West Trenton, New Jersey, were evaluated for calendar year 2018. Groundwater levels measured continuously in five on-site wells and one nearby off-site well were plotted as hydrographs for...
Fiore, Alex R.; Pierre J. Lacombe
Streambed scour of salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) redds in the South Fork Tolt River, King County, Washington
Prior to emergence as fry, salmonid embryos incubating within gravel nests called “redds” are vulnerable to substrate mobilization and lowering of the streambed, a process termed “streambed scour,” during floods. Water managers regulating discharge in salmonid-bearing rivers need information about the magnitude of discharge during which the scour...
Gendaszek, Andrew S.; Ablow, Elizabeth; Marks, Derek
Dye-tracing plan for verifying the Kansas River time-of-travel model
The Kansas River provides drinking water for multiple cities in northeastern Kansas and is used for recreational purposes. Thus, improving the scientific knowledge of streamflow velocities and traveltimes will greatly aid in water-treatment plans and response to critical events and threats to water supplies. Dye-tracer studies are usually done to...
Davis, Chantelle A.; Lukasz, Bradley S.; May, Madison R.