Publications

No abstract available.

Two maps show water levels in wells in the Houston, Texas, area in the Chicot aquifer and the Evangeline aquifer, spring 1988. Both the Chicot and the Evangeline aquifers are composed of several sand layers with different potentiometric surfaces. These maps, however, show approximations of single potentiometric surfaces that represent composite hydraulic heads. (USGS)

In 1986, the Department of the Interior conducted reconnaissance investigations in nine areas of the western conterminous United States to determine whether irrigation drainage has caused or has the potential to cause harmful effects to human health, fish, and wildlife, or may adversely affect the suitability of water for beneficial uses. Data collected in the lower Rio Grande valley and...

Lake Austin and Town Lake are located on the Colorado River in Travis County, central Texas, and serve as a source of water for municipal and industrial water supplies, electrical-power generation, and recreation for more than 500,000 people in the Austin metropolitan area. Lake Austin, located immediately downstream of Lake Travis, extends for more than 20 miles into the western edge of...

Ground-water resources supply almost 60 percent of the freshwater used in Texas, excluding withdrawals for thermoelectric-power generation (less than 3 percent). About 73 percent of the ground water withdrawn is used for irrigation, about 17 percent for public supply, and about 7 percent for industrial, rural domestic, and livestock uses. About 8 million people, or 48 percent of the...

The Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Texas Department of Water resources, began hydrologic studies in the Austin urban area in 1954. In cooperation with the city of Austin, the program was expanded in 1975 to include additional streamflow and rainfall-gaging stations, and the collection of surface water-quality data. In 1978, the program was expanded to include a ground-water...

The Salt Bayou estuary, located in extreme southeast Texas near Sabine Pass, has been altered by construction of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The waterway has interrupted the historical saltwater-freshwater exchange in this important estuary. This alteration may have had a detrimental effect on fish production because of increased salinity, and on waterfowl production because of lower...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) was established by an act of Congress on March 3, 1879, to provide a permanent Federal agency to conduct the systematic and scientific classification of the public lands and to examine the geological structure, mineral resources, and products of national domain. An integral part of that original mission includes publishing and disseminating the earth...

No abstract available.

The National Water Commission recommended that the U.S. Geological Survey conduct intensive studies of the important regional aquifer systems in the United States, particularly those with declining water levels and deteriorating water quality. The result has been a series of Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) studies, one of which is the West Gulf Coast RASA study (Grubb, 1984). The...

Hydrologic investigations of urban watersheds in Texas were begun by the U.S. Geological Survey in 1954. Studies are now in progress in the Austin and Houston areas, and have been completed in the Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio areas. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the city of Houston, began studies in the Houston metropolitan area in 1964. The program was expanded in...

The purpose of this report, which was prepared in cooperation with the City of Houston and the Harris-Galveston Coastal Subsidence District, is to show the altitudes of water levels in wells in the Chicot and Evangeline aquifers in the Houston, Texas, metropolitan area. The maps are based on water-level measurements in the Spring of 1987 in about 400 wells.