USGS Streamgages By the Numbers Active

The U.S. Geological Survey WaterAlert service sends e-mail or text (SMS) messages when certain parameters, as measured by a USGS real-time data-collection station, exceed user-definable thresholds. The development and maintenance of the WaterAlert system is supported by the USGS and its partners, including numerous federal, state, and local agencies.

The USGS provides real-time or near-real-time conditions water data at sites across the Nation. Current data typically are recorded at 15- to 60-minute intervals, stored onsite, and then transmitted to USGS offices every 1 to 4 hours, depending on the data relay technique used. Recording and transmission times may be more frequent during critical events.

WaterWatch displays maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, recent, and past streamflow conditions for the United States, including flood and droughts. Real-time information generally is updated on an hourly basis.

Water Data for the Nation Automated Retrievals provides information about methods you can use to automatically get data from the USGS Water Data for the Nation system.

This site serves USGS water data (streamflow, groundwater, water quality, site information, and statistics) via automated means using web services and extensible markup language (XML), as well as other popular media types. Services are invoked with the REST protocol. These services designed for high fault tolerance and very high availability.

This mapper identifies USGS Federal Priority Streamgages (FPS). FPS are monitoring stations that track the amount of water in streams and rivers across the Nation to meet long-term federal information needs. They are strategically positioned to serve as a backbone for the larger National Streamflow Network that is operated in cooperation with over 1,200 federal, state, tribal, and local agencies.

This mapper identifies USGS streamgages that are in danger of being discontinued or converted to a reduced level of service due to lack of funding, gages that already have been discontinued, and gages that have been ‘rescued’ by a new funding source.

The USGS WaterNow service lets users receive current conditions for USGS water-data-collection stations on demand via email or cell-phone text message. The user sends an email or text message containing a USGS current-conditions gaging site number, and will quickly receive a reply with the station's most recent data for one or more of its monitored parameters.