Curtis V Price
In January 2018, Curtis Price retired from the USGS and is teaching at the South Dakota School of Mines Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. However, he is continuing with the USGS under an intermittent, part-time NDAA appointment.
Curtis can be reached during the school term at: curtis.price@sdsmt.edu
Biography
Curtis Price earned degrees from the University of Puget Sound (B.S. Geology/Comp. Sci., 1983) and Dartmouth College (A.M. Geology, 1985). After two years with NASA contractor TGS Technology, Inc., working on various remote sensing-related research efforts, Price joined the USGS in 1987 at the New Jersey Water Science Center, where he supported ground water modeling projects and GIS applications.
From 1990 to 2017, he was the technical lead with the USGS Enterprise GIS support team for desktop GIS applications, and developed and taught classes in GIS technology, raster analysis, and GIS application development for USGS staff.
In 1995, Price relocated to the South Dakota Water Science Center to join the National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. He has played a role in database design and data management in the Program. This work has included the design and management of the Program's ground water site networks and development and maintenance of NAWQA network and sample coding guidance, ancillary data tools, and common geospatial water-quality and ancillary datasets.
Price executed database design and data development activities in support of the U.S. Department of Interior's WaterSmart initiative, and was the lead Python developer for the High-Resolution National Hydrography Set -- Plus ("HR NHDPlus") project.
In January 2018, Price retired and is teaching at the South Dakota School of Mines Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. He is continuing with the USGS under an intermittent, part-time NDAA appointment.
Science and Products
3D Elevation Program (3DEP) - Your Source for 3D Elevation Data
High quality 3D elevation data are critical to flood risk management, resource management, conservation, alternative energy, agriculture, infrastructure management, and a broad range of other nationally significant applications. 3DEP is a cooperative program, managed by the USGS on behalf of the community, with the goal to complete national coverage of 3D elevation data in 8 years.
WaterSMART: Improving Tools for Assessing and Forecasting Ecological Responses to Hydrologic Alteration
WaterSMART (Sustain and Manage America’s Resources for Tomorrow) is a program of the Department of the Interior that focuses on improving water conservation and helping water-resource managers make sound decisions about water use.
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD)
The National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) represents surface waters of the United States including, rivers, streams, lakes, and coastal features. The Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD) is comprised of hierarchical polygons called hydrologic units that represent surface area over which water drains to a point. Both datasets are updated by stewards and are available by subsets of the United States.
Delineation of the hydrogeologic framework of the Big Sioux aquifer near Sioux Falls, South Dakota, using airborne electromagnetic data
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the City of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, began developing a groundwater-flow model of the Big Sioux aquifer in 2014 that will enable the City to make more informed water management decisions, such as delineation of areas of the greatest specific yield, which is crucial for locating municipal wells....
Valseth, Kristen J.; Delzer, Gregory C.; Price, Curtis V.
Documentation for the U.S. Geological Survey Public-Supply Database (PSDB): A database of permitted public-supply wells, surface-water intakes, and systems in the United States
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has developed a database containing information about wells, surface-water intakes, and distribution systems that are part of public water systems across the United States, its territories, and possessions. Programs of the USGS such as the National Water Census, the National Water Use Information Program, and the...
Price, Curtis V.; Maupin, Molly A.
Anthropogenic organic compounds in source water of select community water systems in the United States, 2002-10
Drinking water delivered by community water systems (CWSs) comes from one or both of two sources: surface water and groundwater. Source water is raw, untreated water used by CWSs and is usually treated before distribution to consumers. Beginning in 2002, the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment Program initiated Source...
Valder, Joshua F.; Delzer, Gregory C.; Kingsbury, James A.; Hopple, Jessica A.; Price, Curtis V.; Bender, David A.
Methods to characterize environmental settings of stream and groundwater sampling sites for National Water-Quality Assessment
Characterization of natural and anthropogenic features that define the environmental settings of sampling sites for streams and groundwater, including drainage basins and groundwater study areas, is an essential component of water-quality and ecological investigations being conducted as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality...
Nakagaki, Naomi; Hitt, Kerie J.; Price, Curtis V.; Falcone, James A.
Percent recoveries of anthropogenic organic compounds with and without the addition of ascorbic acid to preserve finished-water samples containing free chlorine, 2004-10
This report presents finished-water matrix-spike recoveries of 270 anthropogenic organic compounds with and without the addition of ascorbic acid to preserve water samples containing free chlorine. Percent recoveries were calculated using analytical results from a study conducted during 2004-10 for the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA)...
Valder, Joshua F.; Delzer, Gregory C.; Bender, David A.; Price, Curtis V.
National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Area-Characterization Toolbox
This is release 1.0 of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Area-Characterization Toolbox. These tools are designed to be accessed using ArcGIS Desktop software (versions 9.3 and 9.3.1). The toolbox is composed of a collection of custom tools that implement geographic information system (GIS) techniques used by the NAWQA Program to...
Price, Curtis Enhanced Historical Land-Use and Land-Cover Data Sets of the U.S. Geological Survey
Historical land-use and land-cover data, available from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for the conterminous United States and Hawaii, have been enhanced for use in geographic information systems (GIS) applications. The original digital data sets were created by the USGS in the late 1970s and early 1980s and were later converted by USGS and the...
Price, Curtis V.; Nakagaki, Naomi; Hitt, Kerie J.; Clawges, Rick M. Digital data sets describing principal aquifers, surficial geology, and ground-water regions of the conterminous United States
Clawges, Rick M.; Price, Curtis V.
Urban land-use study plan for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program
This study plan is for Urban Land-Use Studies initiated as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. There are two Urban Land-Use Study objectives: (1) Define the water quality in recharge areas of shallow aquifers underlying areas of new residential and commercial land use in large metropolitan areas...
Squillace, P.J.; Price, C.V. Development of a 14-digit hydrologic coding scheme and boundary data set for New Jersey
Ellis, William H.; Price, Curtis V.
A preliminary assessment of the occurrence and possible sources of MTBE in ground water of the United States, 1993-94
The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments require fuel oxygenates to be added to gasoline used in some metropolitan areas to reduce atmospheric concen- trations of carbon monoxide or ozone. Methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE), is the most commonly used fuel oxygenate and is a relatively new gasoline additive. Nevertheless, out of 60 volatile organic chemicals...
Squillace, P.J.