Water Quality

The U.S. Geological Survey operates and maintains approximately 7,300 streamgages nationwide, 194 in Puerto Rico, which provide long-term, accurate, and unbiased information that meets the needs of many diverse users. The USGS collects the streamflow data needed by Federal, State, and local agencies for planning and operating water-resources projects and regulatory programs. The links below allow...

A U.S. Geological Survey assessment of more than 20,000 wells nationwide shows that untreated groundwater in 25 states has a high prevalence of being potentially corrosive. The states with the largest percentage of wells with potentially corrosive groundwater are located primarily in the Northeast, the Southeast, and the Northwest. These FAQs were written in conjunction with that study. In...

Is water quality getting better or worse? Answering this deceptively simple question has been a fundamental objective of the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project’s research. Learn about trends in contaminants in the nation’s streams and rivers, trends in contaminants that collect in the bed sediment of streams and lakes, and changes in the quality of the nation’s groundwater.

Stream, river, and lake bed sediment are reservoirs for many contaminants. These contaminants include some “legacy” contaminants, like DDT, PCBs, and chlordane, and chemicals currently in use, like the insecticide bifenthrin and many flame retardants. Learn about techniques used to study sediment-associated contaminants and their importance to aquatic biota.

Who lives in your stream? Rivers and streams, even small ones, are teeming with a vast number of species, including fish, aquatic invertebrates, and algae. Stream ecology is the study of those aquatic species, the way they interrelate, and their interactions with all aspects of these flowing water systems.

Since 1998, the USGS-National Park Service Water-Quality Partnership has supported 217 projects to protect and improve water quality in 119 national parks. These USGS-NPS collaborative projects support science-based resource management by the National Park Service to address critical water-quality issues for many of our Nation's most highly valued aquatic systems.

On August 5, 2015, U.S. EPA was conducting an investigation of the Gold King Mine near Silverton, Colorado. While excavating as part of the investigation, water began leaking from the mine tunnel, and about three million gallons of water and sediment were released into Cement Creek, a tributary of the Animas River. The USGS provided pre- and post-release water-quality and streamflow data from...

The USGS studies calcium carbonate mineral reactions in soils at the Amarigosa Desert Research Site (ADRS) near Beatty, Nevada, in order to better understand carbon dioxide transport to and from the soil surface, as well as sequestration of toxic elements in the soil.

Although calcium carbonate reaction kinetics has important application in several areas of Earth Science, the mechanism of natural organic matter mediation of carbonate minerals growth and dissolution rates remains largely unknown. This project uses multiple approaches to study calcium carbonate formation and dissolution rates in surface water and groundwater systems.

A wide range of activities have the potential to contaminate groundwater. In addition, several naturally-occurring constituents can limit the suitability of groundwater for some uses. The State of Wyoming has established rules and programs to protect groundwater quality, as well as agencies to implement the rules and programs. The Wyoming Groundwater-Quality Monitoring Network (WGQMN) is one such...