Images

Anoxic groundwater pumped from the embayment-uplands aquifers for municipal supply is oxygenated as it cascades over aerator trays. The iron and manganese that are dissolved in the water precipitate and are filtered from the water.

Latham River at Jekyll Island State Park, Georgia, where the river flows into Jekyll Sound. The health of the Jekyll Sound ecosystem is influenced by streamflow and the associated nutrient loads.

A rock hammer posed next to an outcrop of the Conococheague Formation, an Appalachian bedrock unit of Cambrian age. Photo is from Circular 1360, Water Quality of Principal Aquifers of the United States, 1991-2010.

Sunset view looking northwest from Fishermans Cove, across Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The small sticks and flags in the lake are a sampling grid. 

Sunfish from the Southeast Stream Quality Assessment. An increase in sunfish in southeastern streams, intentionally stocked or unintentionally transplanted, has caused the composition of fish species among streams in the Southeast to become more similar. Such homogenization of species is an emergi

Pole Bridge Creek is one of the sites investigated in the USGS Regional Stream Quality Assessment, during which water quality and ecological condition were sampled.

Little Haynes Creek is one of the sites investigated in the USGS Regional Stream Quality Assessment, during which water quality and ecological condition were sampled.

USGS hydrologists and technicians use a kicknet to collect a sample of aquatic invertebrates for an ecological survey on South Fork Broad River iin Georgia. Broad River was one of the sites investigated in the USGS Regional Stream Quality Assessment, during which water quality and ecological condition were sampled.

View looking west from Fishermans Cove, across Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The small sticks in the lake are a small-scale sampling grid. 

USGS hydrologists ready a 287-lb D-99 bag sampler to deploy in the Mississippi River.  The USGS regularly collects samples for water-quality analysis from the large rivers of the Nation; data are available at https://cida.usgs.gov/quality/rivers/home.

This well is being sampled for water-quality constituents as part of the NAWQA Enhanced Trend Network project.

This well is being sampled for water-quality constituents as part of the NAWQA Enhanced Trend Network project.

A large-volume public supply well in San Antonio, Texas.  This well is being sampled for water-quality constituents as part of the NAWQA Enhanced Trend Network project.

This well is being sampled for water-quality constituents as part of the NAWQA Enhanced Trend Network project.

Big Darby Creek is near Lake Darby, Ohio. Find out about the water quality of this stream and others in the Midwest studied by the Midwest Stream Quality Assessment.

In the Corn Belt states of the Midwestern U.S., intensive row-cropping surrounds small streams, effectively eliminating riparian cover and habitat. Agricultural activities can have profound effects on the chemical and physical characteristics of small streams.

In the Corn Belt states of the Midwestern U.S., intensive row-cropping surrounds small streams, effectively eliminating riparian cover and habitat. Agricultural activities can have profound effects on the chemical and physical characteristics of small streams.

In the Corn Belt states of the Midwestern U.S., intensive row-cropping surrounds small streams, effectively eliminating riparian cover and habitat. Agricultural activities can have profound effects on the chemical and physical characteristics of small streams.

In the Corn Belt states of the Midwestern U.S., intensive row-cropping surrounds small streams, effectively eliminating riparian cover and habitat. Agricultural activities can have profound effects on the chemical and physical characteristics of small streams.

Many small farms in the Corn Belt state of the Midwest also have confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs). These CAFOs can be a source of nitrogen to receiving small streams. The USGS Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) investigated the water quality of small streams across the Midwest during 2013.

Salt Lake City skyline showing buildings with mountains in the background.