Water Resources
How We Use Water
Data Visualization of Water Use in the U.S. 2015
Explore water use data by state and county for 2015
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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.
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: Upper Colorado 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 headwaters of the Colorado and Gunnison River Basin provide an opportunity to implement the NGWOS...
Principal Aquifers of the United States
This website compiles USGS resources and data related to principal aquifers including Aquifer Basics, principal aquifers maps and GIS data, and the National Aquifer Code Reference List.
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.
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.
Atmospheric Warming, Loss of Snow Cover, and Declining Colorado River Flow
Declining snow cover is playing a key role in decreasing the flow of the Colorado River, “the lifeblood of the Southwest,” by enabling increased evaporation. As the warming continues, increasingly severe water shortages are expected.
SPARROW Mappers
SPARROW mappers are interactive tools that allow the user to explore river streamflow and nutrient and sediment loads and yields and the importance of different sources of contaminants in a particular river basin. Data can be visualized using maps and interactive graphs and tables, and rankings can be shown by state, major watershed, hydrologic unit (HUC), and catchment.
Integrated Water Availability Assessments using Cooperative Matching Funds
A group of new projects from across the U.S. will help to support development of National and Regional Integrated Water Availability Assessments (IWAAs). They will be conducted with State and local partners with the support of Cooperative Matching Funds and will focus on improving the data, tools, and information stakeholders need to make water-resource management decisions.
Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Cooperative Matching Funds Projects
New projects from coast to coast will advance the research on harmful algal blooms (HABs) in lakes, reservoirs and rivers. The vivid emerald-colored algal blooms are caused by cyanobacteria, which can produce cyanotoxins that threaten human health and aquatic ecosystems and can cause major economic damage.