Images

Small stream running through an agricultural area in Iowa with crops surrounding it.

Spent oil-based drilling waste land applied on an Oklahoma wheat field after harvest (July 2021).

High resolution mass spectrometer at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center.   Any display of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

USGS scientist standing near the high-resolution mass spectrometer at the U.S. Geological Survey Eastern Ecological Science Center. The instrument will be used for analyses of PFAS in plasma and tissue samples. Any display of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

USGS scientists Gregory D'Agostino and Katherine Wares collecting soil and worms at a site on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that was contaminated by PFAS from fire-fighting foam.  

Invertebrate being collected at a site on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, that was contaminated by PFAS from fire-fighting foam used at the site. 

Illustration showing that drinking water is shared by both humans and wildlife, illustration created by Kathy Lee

Scientist istalling a swallow nest box near Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod Massachusetts as part of a study on the fate and effects of PFAS chemicals. 

Joe Adams (USGS National Uncrewed Systems Office) pilots and Keith Grabner (USGS Columbia Environmental Research Center) acts as visual observer as a drone equipped with EPA particulate and gas samplers (right) hovers in the plume of a spring prescribed burn at the Konza Prairie Biological Station, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve, Kansas.

U.S. Geological Survey scientists holding a Colorado pikeminnow during a sampling trip in the Upper Colorado River Basin.

USGS scientists Jason Sorenson and Andrea Tokranov (out of the image) collecting lake-bottom sediments from Ashumet Pond on Cape Cod, Massachusetts for use in laboratory experiments on the fate of PFAS at groundwater/surface-water boundaries.  The sediments are collected by pushing a tube into the lake bottom and transferring the sediment and pore water in

The Chesapeake Bay watershed, or draingage basin, encompasses six states - New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. A drainage basin is a giant system of creeks, streams, and rivers that all flow into a common outlet, which in this case is the Chesapeake Bay.

Releases of oil and gas wastewaters can have complex effects on stream-water quality and downstream organisms, due to sediment-water interactions and groundwater/surface water exchange. 

Microscopic appearance of normal and melanistic skin in fish from Chesapeake Bay watershed.

White barn in a rural setting in North Dakota.

A well pump in rural North Dakota.

Photographic image taken at Franklin Lock and Dam, Caloosahatchee River, Florida

Photographic image of two USGS scientists on a boat collecting water samples for HABS research at the Franklin Lock and Dam, Caloosahatchee River, Florida.

Visitors at Winnewissa Falls in Pipestone National Monument

Benthic macroinvertebrate taxa collected from Straight Run, Tioga County, Pennsyvania, USA. 

Beautiful photo of mountains and water taken at Wildhorse Creek, Idaho. Photo Credit: Austin Baldwin