Publications

The use of host-associated Bacteroidales-based 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid genetic markers was investigated as a tool for providing information to managers on sources of bacterial impairment in Vermont streams. The study was conducted during 2009 in two watersheds on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 303(d) List of Impaired Waters, the Huntington and the Mettawee Rivers...

Recovery is the proportion of a target analyte that is quantified by an analytical method and is a primary indicator of the analytical bias of a measurement. Recovery is measured by analysis of quality-control (QC) water samples that have known amounts of target analytes added ("spiked" QC samples). For pesticides, recovery is the measured amount of pesticide in the spiked QC sample...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Goliad County Groundwater Conservation District, Victoria County Groundwater Conservation District, Pecan Valley Groundwater Conservation District, Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, and San Antonio River Authority, did a study to examine the hydrology and stream-aquifer interactions in the upper Coleto Creek watershed. Findings...

Spatially Referenced Regression On Watershed attributes (SPARROW) models were developed to provide spatially explicit information on local and regional total nitrogen and total phosphorus sources and transport in the Missouri River Basin. Model results provide estimates of the relative contributions from various nutrient sources and delivery factors. The models also describe instream...

The former Chlor-Alkali Facility in Berlin, New Hampshire, was listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency National Priorities List in 2005 as a Superfund site. The Chlor-Alkali Facility lies on the east bank of the Androscoggin River. Elemental mercury currently discharges from that bank into the Androscoggin River. The nature, extent, and the speciation of mercury and the...

Membrane bioreactors (MBR), used for wastewater treatment in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, have pore sizes small enough to theoretically reduce concentrations of protozoa and bacteria, but not viruses. Sampling for viruses in wastewater is seldom done and not required. Instead, the bacterial indicators Escherichia coli (E. coli) and fecal coliforms are the required microbial...

Beach water and sediment samples were collected along the Gulf of Mexico coast to assess differences in contaminant concentrations before and after landfall of Macondo-1 well oil released into the Gulf of Mexico from the sinking of the British Petroleum Corporation's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform. Samples were collected at 70 coastal sites on the Gulf of Mexico between May 7 and...

Bathymetric surveys were conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Missouri Department of Transportation, on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the vicinity of 12 bridges at 7 highway crossings near St. Louis, Missouri, in October 2010. A multibeam echo sounder mapping system was used to obtain channel-bed elevations for river reaches ranging from 3,280 to 4...

Groundwater beneath Pahute Mesa flows through a complexly layered sequence of volcanic rock aquifers and confining units that have been faulted into distinct structural blocks. Hydraulic property estimates of rocks and structures in this flow system are necessary to assess radionuclide migration near underground nuclear testing areas. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) used a 12 month...

The Leadville mining district is historically one of the most heavily mined regions in the world producing large quantities of gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, and manganese since the 1860s. A multidisciplinary investigation was conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, to characterize large-scale groundwater...

In small watersheds, runoff entering local waterways from large storms can cause rapid and profound changes in the streambed that can contribute to flooding. Wymans Run, a small stream in Cochranton Borough, Crawford County, experienced a large rain event in June 2008 that caused sediment to be deposited at a bridge. A hydrodynamic model, Flow and Sediment Transport and Morphological...

A study was conducted to characterize sediment transport upstream and downstream from a proposed dam on the First Broad River near the town of Lawndale in Cleveland County, North Carolina. Streamflow was measured continuously, and 381 suspended-sediment samples were collected between late March 2008 and September 2009 at two monitoring stations on the First Broad River to determine the...