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.
Report of the River Master of the Delaware River for the period December 1, 2009–November 30, 2010
A Decree of the Supreme Court of the United States, entered June 7, 1954, established the position of Delaware River Master within the U.S. Geological Survey. In addition, the Decree authorizes diversion of water from the Delaware River Basin and requires compensating releases from certain reservoirs, owned by New York City, to be made under the...
Russell, Kendra L.; Ockerman, Darwin; Krejmas, Bruce E.; Paulachok, Gary N.; Mason,, Robert R.
Pecos River Basin salinity assessment, Santa Rosa Lake, New Mexico, to the confluence of the Pecos River and the Rio Grande, Texas, 2015
The elevated salinity of the Pecos River throughout much of its length is of paramount concern to water users and water managers. Dissolved-solids concentrations in the Pecos River exceed 3,000 milligrams per liter in many of its reaches in the study area, from Santa Rosa Lake, New Mexico, to the confluence of the Pecos River with the Rio Grande,...
Houston, Natalie A.; Thomas, Jonathan V.; Ging, Patricia B.; Teeple, Andrew P.; Pedraza, Diana E.; Wallace, David S.
Evaluating associations between environmental variables and Escherichia coli levels for predictive modeling at Pawtuckaway Beach in Nottingham, New Hampshire, from 2015 to 2017
From 2015 through 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services studied occurrences of high levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria at the Pawtuckaway State Park Beach in Nottingham, New Hampshire. Historic data...
Coles, James F.; Kathleen F. Bush
Peak streamflow and stages at selected streamgages on the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and Arkansas, May to June 2019
As much as 22 inches of rain fell in Oklahoma in May 2019, resulting in historic flooding along the Arkansas River in Oklahoma and Arkansas. The flooding along the Arkansas River and its tributaries that began in May continued into June 2019. Peaks of record were measured at 12 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamgages on various streams in...
Lewis, Jason M.; Trevisan, Adam R.
Remote sensing of tracer dye concentrations to support dispersion studies in river channels
In river channels the flow field influences the dispersion of biota, contaminants, and other suspended or dissolved materials. Insight on patterns and rates of dispersion can be gained by injecting a pulse of visible dye and observing spatial and temporal variations in dye concentration as the pulse moves downstream. We evaluated the potential of...
Legleiter, Carl J.; McDonald, Richard R.; Nelson, Jonathan M.; Kinzel, Paul J.; Perroy, Ryan L. ; Baek, Donghae; Seo, Il Won Geospatial scaling of runoff and erosion modeling in the Chihuahuan Desert
Large-scale assessments of rangeland runoff and erosion require methods to extend plot-scale parameterizations to large areas. In this study, Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) parameters were developed from plot-scale foliar and ground-cover transect data for an arid, grass-shrub rangeland in southern New Mexico, and a method was...
Ball, Grady; Douglas-Mankin, Kyle
Potentiometric surface of groundwater-level altitudes near the planned Highway 270 bypass, east of Hot Springs, Arkansas, July–August 2017
The Ouachita Mountains aquifer system potentiometric-surface map is one component of the Hot Springs Bypass Groundwater Monitoring Project. The potentiometric-surface map provides a baseline assessment of shallow groundwater levels and flow directions before the construction of the Arkansas Department of Transportation planned extension of the...
Nottmeier, Anna M.; Hays, Phillip D.
Differentiating sediment sources using sediment fingerprinting techniques, in the Sprague River Basin, South-Central Oregon
Identifying sources of sediment to streams in the Sprague River Basin, in south-central Oregon, is important for restoration efforts that are focused on reducing sediment erosion and transport. Reducing sediment loads in these streams also contributes to compliance with the total maximum daily load reduction requirements for total phosphorus in...
Schenk, Liam N.; Harden, Tessa M.; Kelson, Julia K.
Trace metal and nutrient loads from groundwater seepage into the South Fork Coeur d’Alene River near Smelterville, northern Idaho, 2017
The Coeur d’Alene mining district in northern Idaho historically was a globally important source of lead, zinc, and silver, but over 100 years of mining has left a legacy of metals contamination in the Coeur d’Alene River valley. Previous studies by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and others have indicated that groundwater discharging into the...
Zinsser, Lauren M. Review of and recommendations for monitoring contaminants and their effects in the San Francisco Bay−Delta
Legacy and current-use contaminants enter into and accumulate throughout the San Francisco Bay−Delta (Bay−Delta), and are present at concentrations with known effects on species important to this diverse watershed. There remains major uncertainty and a lack of focused research able to address and provide understanding of effects across multiple...
Connon, Richard E; Hasenbein, Simone; Brander, Susanne M.; Poynton, Helen C.; Holland, Erika B; Schlenk, Daniel; Orlando, James; Hladik, Michelle; Collier, Tracy K.; Scholz, Nathaniel L; Incardona, John P; Denslow, Nancy D.; Hamdoun, Amro; Nicklisch, Sascha; Garcia-Reyero, Natalia; Perkins, Edward J.; Gallagher, Evan P; Deng, Xin; Wang, Dan; Fong, Stephanie; Breuer, Richard S; Hajibabei, Mehrdad; Brown, James B; Colbourne, John K; Young, Thomas M; Cherr, Gary; Whitehead, Andrew; Todgham, Anne E. Response of nitrogen loading to the Chesapeake Bay to source reduction and land use change scenarios: A SPARROW‐informed analysis
In response to concerns regarding the health of streams and receiving waters, the United States Environmental Protection Agency established a total maximum daily load for nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay watershed for which practices must be in place by 2025 resulting in an expected 25% reduction in load from 2009 levels. The response of total...
Miller, Matthew; Capel, Paul D.; Garcia, Ana M.; Ator, Scott W.
Instructions for running the analytical code PAT (Purge Analyzer Tool) for computation of in-well time of travel of groundwater under pumping conditions
IntroductionUnderstanding the optimal time needed to purge a well while pumping to collect a representative groundwater sample requires an understanding of groundwater flow in wells (in-well flow). Parameters that affect in-well flow include the hydraulic properties of the aquifer, well construction, drawdown from pumping, and pump rate. The time...
Harte, P.T.; Huffman, B.J.; Perina, Tomas; Levine, Herb; Rojas-Mickelson, Daewon