Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed a regional study in the Southwestern United States to characterize dissolved-solids conditions in major water supplies, including important rivers and aquifers. High concentrations of dissolved solids can degrade a water supply's suitability for important uses, such as drinking water or crop irrigation. In an effort to ensure the...

Gravity and land subsidence were measured annually at wells and benchmarks within two networks in Tucson Basin and Avra Valley from 1998 to 2002. Both networks are within the Tucson Active Management Area. Annual estimates of ground-water storage change, ground-water budgets, and land subsidence were made based on the data. Additionally, estimates of specific yield were made at wells...

Gaseous contaminants, including CFC 113, chloroform, and tritiated compounds, move preferentially in unsaturated subsurface gravel layers away from disposal trenches at a closed low-level radioactive waste-disposal facility in the Amargosa Desert about 17 kilometers south of Beatty, Nevada. Two distinct gravel layers are involved in contaminant transport: a thin, shallow layer between...

Population growth and changes in land use have the potential to affect water quality and quantity in the upper Gunnison River Basin. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bureau of Land Management, City of Gunnison, Colorado River Water Conservation District, Crested Butte South Metropolitan District, Gunnison County, Hinsdale County, Mount Crested Butte...

The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a large (953,000 square miles) regional aquifer system of heterogeneous composition. As described in this report, the glacial aquifer system includes all unconsolidated geologic material above bedrock that lies on or north of the line of maximum glacial advance within the United States. Examining ground-water quality on a regional scale...

The Albuquerque Basin, located in central New Mexico, is about 100 miles long and 25 to 40 miles wide. The basin is defined as the extent of consolidated and unconsolidated deposits of Tertiary and Quaternary age that encompass the structural Rio Grande Rift within the basin. Drinking-water supplies throughout the basin are currently (2007) obtained solely from ground-water resources. An...

Field and analytical methods, mercury and ancillary water-quality data, and associated quality-control data are reported for eight streams in Oregon, Wisconsin, and Florida from 2002 to 2006. The streams were sampled as part of a U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program study of mercury cycling, transport, and bioaccumulation in urban and nonurban stream...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Spartanburg Water System, conducted three spatial surveys of the limnological conditions in Lake William C. Bowen (Lake Bowen) and Municipal Reservoir #1 (Reservoir #1), Spartanburg County, South Carolina, during August to September 2005, May 2006, and October 2006. The surveys were conducted to identify spatial distribution and...

The removal of two dams from the mainstem of the Elwha River is expected to cause a broad range of changes to the river and nearby coastal ecosystem. The U.S. Geological Survey has documented aspects of the condition of the river to allow analysis of ecological responses to dam removal. This report documents the bank topography, river bathymetry, and current velocity data collected along...

Nutrients and pesticides are water-quality topics of concern in Iowa. Nitrate concentrations in the Cedar River and other streams in Iowa are among the highest in the Nation. A 12-mile reach of the Cedar River upstream from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is identified on the Total Maximum Daily Load list for nitrate impairment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In addition, pesticide...

Portable chamber measurements of evapotranspiration (ET) were made at the U.S. Geological Survey's Amargosa Desert Research Site in southern Nevada to help quantify component- and landscape-scale contributions to ET in an arid environment. Evapotranspiration data were collected approximately every 3 months from 2003 to 2006. Chamber measurements of ET were partitioned into bare-soil...

Increasing evidence of climate change has raised concerns that the predicted increases in air temperature and attendant changes in precipitation patterns will affect water resources around the world. An analysis of long-term meteorological and streamflow records can be used to identify trends that might be indicative of climate change, especially with respect to the magnitude and...