Publications

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Idaho Department of Water Resources and Washington State Department of Ecology, investigated the hydrogeologic framework and ground-water budget of the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) aquifer located in northern Idaho and northeastern Washington. Descriptions of the hydrogeologic framework, water-budget components, and further...

Single-hole radar reflection and crosshole radar tomography surveys were used in conjunction with conventional borehole-geophysical methods to evaluate the effectiveness of borehole-radar methods for monitoring the movement of steam and heat through fractured bedrock. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), conducted surveys in an...

This report presents a computer model of ground-water flow in the Spokane Valley-Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) aquifer in Spokane County, Washington, and Bonner and Kootenai Counties, Idaho. The aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for more than 500,000 residents in the area. In response to the concerns about the impacts of increased ground-water withdrawals resulting from recent and...

On April 2-3, 2005, heavy rain moved into southern New York and delivered rainfall amounts that ranged from about 2 in. to almost 6 in. within a 36-hour period. Significant flooding occurred on many small streams and tributaries in the area, and extensive flooding occurred on the Esopus and Roundout Creeks in Ulster and Greene Counties, New York. The flooding damaged many homes, caused...

The potential for contamination of ground water from remnant sewage sludge in re-graded sediments of a deconstructed sewage-treatment lagoon was evaluated. Ground-water levels were measured in temporary drive-point wells, and ground-water samples were collected and analyzed for nutrients and other water-quality characteristics. Composite soil and sediment samples were collected and...

The presence of human-derived fecal coliform bacteria (sewage) in streams and rivers is recognized as a human health hazard. The source of these human-derived bacteria, however, is often difficult to identify and eliminate, because sewage can be delivered to streams through a variety of mechanisms, such as leaking sanitary sewers or private lateral lines, cross-connected pipes, straight...

The upper Klamath Basin spans the California-Oregon border from the flank of the Cascade Range eastward to the Basin and Range Province, and encompasses the Klamath River drainage basin above Iron Gate Dam. Most of the basin is semiarid, but the Cascade Range and uplands in the interior and eastern parts of the basin receive on average more than 30 inches of precipitation per year. The...

Soil/sediment of the Mississippi River deltaic plain (MRDP) in southeastern Louisiana is rich in organic carbon (OC). The MRDP contains about 2 percent of all OC in the surface meter of soil/sediment in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB). Environments within the MRDP differ in soil/sediment organic carbon (SOC) accumulation rate, storage, and inventory. The focus of this study was twofold...

Executive Summary Fuel reduction projects have become an increasingly important component of state and federal fuels management programs. However, an unintended result of some pre-fire fuel manipulation projects may be the introduction of nonnative invasive plants. The establishment of nonnative plants within fuel breaks is a serious concern because the presence of invasive species in...

In 1991, members of local, State, and Federal governments, as well as industry and interest groups, formed the Ground-water and Pesticide Strategy Committee to prepare the State of Wyoming's generic Management Plan for Pesticides in Ground Water. Part of this management plan is to sample and analyze Wyoming's ground water for pesticides. In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey, in...

Walker Lake lies within a topographically closed basin in west-central Nevada and is the terminus of the Walker River. Much of the streamflow in the Walker River is diverted for irrigation, which has contributed to a decline in lake-surface altitude of about 150 feet and an increase in dissolved solids from 2,500 to 16,000 milligrams per liter in Walker Lake since 1882. The increase in...

Questions of how much water is in the Apalachicola, Chattahoochee, and Flint (ACF) Rivers and how much is used do not have simple answers. The answers depend on the location in the river basin and on the year and season (as discussed on the first two pages of this fact sheet). Location is important because as one moves from upstream to downstream in a typical river, additions to...