Water Resources
Aquatic Biology and Ecosystems
Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA)
Studying water-quality factors that stress aquatic life
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Integrated Water Science (IWS) Basins
The U.S. Geological Survey is integrating its water science programs to better address the Nation’s greatest water resource challenges. At the heart of this effort are plans to intensively study at least 10 Integrated Water Science (IWS) basins — medium-sized watersheds (10,000-20,000 square miles) and underlying aquifers — over the next decade. The IWS basins will represent a wide range of...
Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs)
The USGS Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs) are a multi-extent, stakeholder driven, near real-time census and prediction of water availability for both human and ecological uses at regional and national extents.
USGS Streamgaging Network
The USGS Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program supports the collection and (or) delivery of both streamflow and water-level information at approximately 8,500 sites and water-level information alone for more than 1,700 additional sites. The data are served online—most in near realtime—to meet many diverse needs.
Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Upper Colorado River Basin
Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. Snow from the Upper Colorado River Basin contributes 92% of the natural streamflow to the entire Colorado River Basin. The UCOL IWAAs will improve our understanding of the water budget, status and trends in water quality and ecological conditions, and ecosystem response to changes in climate and human water...
Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Delaware River Basin
Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. In the Delaware River Basin, which serves over 13 million people, water availability can be affected by drought, river temperature, salinity, and more. The Delaware River Basin IWAAs will investigate these and other water quantity, quality, and use issues to assess available water and how it changes over...
Next Generation Water Observing System: Illinois River Basin
The Next Generation Water Observing System provides high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use to support modern water prediction and decision-support systems that are necessary for informing water operations on a daily basis and decision-making during water emergencies. The Illinois River Basin provides an opportunity to implement the NGWOS in a system challenged by an...
Next Generation Water Observing System: Delaware River Basin
The USGS Next Generation Water Observing System will provide high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity and quality necessary to support modern water prediction and decision support systems for water emergencies and daily water operations. The Delaware River Basin pilot provides an opportunity to develop the NextGen observing system in a nationally important, complex interstate river...
Water Quality of San Francisco Bay Research and Monitoring Project: Sampling Methods
The Water Quality of San Francisco Bay Research and Monitoring Project measures changes in water quality along the deep channel of the San Francisco Bay-Delta system using submersible sensors and discrete water samples. Learn more about how we collect and measure water-quality data.
Powder River: Data for Cross-Channel Profiles at 22 Sites in Southeastern Montana, 1975 through 2019
Powder River rises in the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming and flows northward through a semi-arid landscape in Wyoming and Montana to the Yellowstone River. The river drains an area of 34,700 square kilometers and has an average discharge of about 500 million cubic meters per year. Cross-channel profile data were collected at 22 sites on the river and its tributaries from 1975 through 2014.
Water Quality of San Francisco Bay Research and Monitoring Project
Since 1969, the U.S. Geological Survey has maintained a research project in the San Francisco Bay-Delta system to measure and understand how estuarine systems and tidal river deltas function and change in response to hydro-climatic variability and human activities.
Transboundary Assessments of Water Quality in the Pacific Northwest
In 2019, the USGS began studying the baseline water-quality of selected transboundary rivers in the Pacific Northwest. These studies are designed to characterize current water-quality conditions so as to facilitate future assessments of potential impacts related to upstream mining activities.
Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP)
The Shingobee Headwaters Aquatic Ecosystems Project (SHAEP) brings together scientists from the USGS along with students and professors from universities in Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, and California for a unique study opportunity. This diverse group of scientists research the physical, chemical, and biological processes of lakes, wetlands, and streams at local and watershed scales....