Publications

In 2010, a two-dimensional hydrodynamic and water-quality model (CE-QUAL-W2) of Lake Ashtabula, North Dakota, was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the North Dakota State Water Commission to understand the dynamics of chemical constituents in the reservoir and to provide a tool for the management and operation of the Devils Lake State Outlet in meeting the water...

The U.S. Geological Survey's Groundwater Resources Program is conducting an assessment of groundwater availability throughout the United States to gain a better understanding of the status of the Nation's groundwater resources and how changes in land use, water use, and climate may affect those resources. The goal of this National assessment is to improve our ability to forecast water...

The City of Independence, Missouri, operates a well field in the Missouri River alluvial aquifer. Contributing recharge areas (CRA) were last determined for the well field in 1996. Since that time, eight supply wells have been installed in the area north of the Missouri River and well pumpage has changed for the older supply wells. The change in pumping has altered groundwater flow and

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's (FWS) Pacific Region (Region 1) includes more than 158 million acres (almost 247,000 square miles) of land base in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Hawai`i, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Guam, the Republic of Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Region 1 is ecologically...

Extensive information about the construction of dams or potential downstream hazards in the event of a dam breach is not available for many small reservoirs within the Black Hills National Forest. In 2009, the U.S. Forest Service identified the need for reconnaissance-level dam-breach assessments for four of these reservoirs within the Black Hills National Forest (Iron Creek, Horsethief...

Cyanotoxins are a group of organic compounds biosynthesized intracellularly by many species of cyanobacteria found in surface water. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has listed cyanotoxins on the Safe Drinking Water Act's Contaminant Candidate List 3 for consideration for future regulation to protect public health. Cyanotoxins also pose a risk to humans and other...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Spartanburg Water, evaluated the concentrations, loads, and yields of suspended sediment, dissolved ammonia, dissolved nitrate plus nitrite, total organic nitrogen, total nitrogen, dissolved orthophosphate, dissolved phosphorus, and total phosphorus at sites in the South Pacolet, North Pacolet, and Pacolet Rivers in northern South Carolina...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Tennessee Water Science Center and the College of Engineering and Technology at Tennessee State University developed a Partnership in Environmental Education and Research (PEER) to support environmental research at TSU and to expand the environmental research capabilities of the USGS in Tennessee. The PEER program is driven by the research needs to...

The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) characterized the occurrence of 277 organic compounds in source water (stream water collected before treatment) and finished water (treated water before distribution) from the White River North treatment plant, one of several community water systems that use the White River as its primary water...

About 1 million acres of Federal land in the Grand Canyon region of Arizona were temporarily withdrawn from new mining claims in July 2009 by the Secretary of the Interior because of concern that increased uranium mining could have negative impacts on the land, water, people, and wildlife. During a 2-year interval, a Federal team led by the Bureau of Land Management is evaluating the...

Water-quality data have been collected in the North Santiam River basin since 1998. During water year 2007, eight monitoring stations were operated throughout the basin. Streamflow data were collected at all but one of these sites. This report presents a comparison of the water-quality and streamflow data collected at each monitoring station from monitor installation through water year...

The Delaware River Basin Commission is charged with establishing water-quality objectives for the tidal and non-tidal portions of the Delaware River, which include developing nutrient standards that are scientifically defensible. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Delaware River Basin Commission and the Academy of Natural Sciences, studied the effects of nutrient...