Measuring and Monitoring Water

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...

The Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) provides high-fidelity, real-time data on water quantity, quality, and use to support modern 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 Basins provide an opportunity to implement NGWOS in a...

The Next Generation Water Observing System (NGWOS) supports water availability assessments, management, and prediction by enhancing water observations in basins that represent major U.S. hydrologic regions. The Delaware River Basin was the first Integrated Water Science basin selected, providing an opportunity to implement the NGWOS program in a nationally important, complex interstate river...

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.

The Research Vessel David H. Peterson begain service with the U.S. Geological Survey in 2015. Named after a founder of the Water Quality of San Francisco Bay Research and Monitoring Project, this vessel is a high-tech scientific platform for estuarine research. Learn more about how the R/V David H. Peterson makes our research possible.

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.

This list of national principal aquifer codes and names are fixed values assigned by the National Water Information System (NWIS). Aquifers are identified by a geohydrologic unit code - a three-digit number related to the age of the formation, followed by a 4 or 5 character abbreviation for the geologic unit or aquifer name.

Flood-frequency analysis provides information about the magnitude and frequency of floods based on records of annual maximum instantaneous peak discharges. Accurate flood-frequency estimates, created using consistent and uniformly applied methods, are a key component of any effective flood risk and management program. This is a list of current USGS flood frequency reports published by state.

The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) supports the water-resource monitoring efforts of USGS scientists and other Federal scientists by providing quality-assured hydrologic equipment and instrumentation support.

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.

Together with partner organizations, the USGS is involved in data collection, analysis, and synthesis to improve estimates of coastal wetland carbon fluxes. This research will help improve science and data availability across a wide range of topics.

The USGS serves as the lead agency for the United States to measure and apportion natural flows of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers according to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the International Joint Commission Order of 1921. The division of water between the United States and Canada is overseen by the Accredited Officers of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, who are appointed by their respective...