Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been investigating the water resources of Washington State since the latter part of the 19th century. During this time, demand for water has evolved from primarily domestic and stock needs to the current complex requirements for public-water supplies, irrigation, power generation, navigation, ecological needs, and numerous other uses. Water-resource...

The U.S. Geological Survey and the Naval Facilities Engineering Command Southeast investigated natural and engineered remediation of chlorinated volatile organic compound (VOC) groundwater contamination at Solid Waste Management Unit 12 at the Naval Weapons Station Charleston, North Charleston, South Carolina, beginning in 2000. The primary contaminants of interest in the study are

Fluvial geomorphic data were collected by the United States Geological Survey from July 2005 to June 2008 (a time period within water years 2005 to 2008) to monitor the effects of habitat enhancement activities conducted in the Platte River Whooping Crane Maintenance Trust’s Uridil Property, located along the Platte River, Nebraska. The activities involved the removal of vegetation and...

The groundwater model documented in this report simulates the transient evolution of water levels in the aquifers and confining units of the Virginia Coastal Plain and adjacent portions of Maryland and North Carolina since 1890. Groundwater withdrawals have lowered water levels in Virginia Coastal Plain aquifers and have resulted in drawdown in the Potomac aquifer exceeding 200 feet in...

A reconnaissance of pharmaceutical chemicals in urban streams of the Tualatin River basin was conducted in July 2002 in an effort to better understand the occurrence and distribution of such compounds, and to determine whether they might be useful indicators of human-related stream contamination. Of the 21 pharmaceutical chemicals and metabolites tested, only 6 (acetaminophen, caffeine

To assess the effect that increased water use is having on the long-term availability of groundwater within the Ozark Plateaus aquifer system, a groundwater-flow model was developed using MODFLOW 2000 for a model area covering 7,340 square miles for parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Vertically the model is divided into five units. From top to bottom these units of...

Mudboils have been documented in the Tully Valley in Onondaga County, in central New York State, since the late 1890s and have continuously discharged sediment-laden (turbid) water into nearby Onondaga Creek since the 1950s. The discharge of sediment causes gradual land-surface subsidence that, in the past, necessitated rerouting a major petroleum pipeline and a buried telephone cable...

As part of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program mandated in the Clean Water Act, the South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) is required to address the quality of stormwater runoff from state-maintained roadways. From 2005 to 2006, the SCDOT and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) worked cooperatively in Beaufort and Colleton Counties...

The Bonnet Carré Spillway, located 28 miles northwest of New Orleans, was constructed in the early 1930s as part of an integrated flood-control system for the lower Mississippi River system. From 11 April to 8 May 2008, Mississippi River water was diverted through the spillway into the 629-square-mile Lake Pontchartrain, which is hydraulically connected to the Gulf of Mexico. On 8 April...

The Pawcatuck River Basin in southwestern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut is an important high-quality water resource for domestic and public supplies, irrigation, recreation, and the aquatic ecosystem. Concerns about the effects of water withdrawals on aquatic habitat in the basin have prompted local, State, and Federal agencies to explore water-management strategies that...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) and Toxic Substances Hydrology Programs conducted the National Mercury Pilot Study in 1998 to examine relations of mercury (Hg) in water, bed sediment and fish in streams across the United States, including Alaska and Hawaii. Water and bed-sediment samples were analyzed for total Hg (THg), methylmercury (MeHg)...

The Walker River is the main source of inflow to Walker Lake, a closed-basin lake in west-central Nevada. The only outflow from Walker Lake is evaporation from the lake surface. Between 1882 and 2008, upstream agricultural diversions resulted in a lake-level decline of more than 150 feet and storage loss of 7,400,000 acre-feet. Evaporative concentration increased dissolved solids from 2...