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Jennifer Murphy

Jenny is a hydrologist with the USGS, Central Midwest Water Science Center. Much of her work focuses on characterizing and understanding water-quality trends in the Nation's streams and rivers. Jenny also leads a team of scientists working to develop a proxy for harmful algal blooms in rivers.

Jenny has played an important role in characterizing water-quality trends with the Weighted Regressions on Time, Season and Discharge (WRTDS) model at >1,000 sites across the country using an extensive multi-agency dataset. Jenny's additional trends work includes looking at nitrate in the Mississippi River Basin, sediment in the lowermost Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers, and water quality in streams and rivers in the Delaware River Basin. Additionally, she has worked on projects ranging from the evaluation of best management practices in small agricultural drainages, to characterizing and understanding ecological flows, estimating water use at thermoelectric powerplants, and harmonizing multisource data.  Her current interests are in trend studies, causal attribution of these trends, and exploring the influence of streamflow on water quality.

CURRENT & PAST PROJECTS

  • Co-lead of multisource surface water-quality trends task as part of the IWAAs Delaware River Basin Regional Pilot
  • NAWQA Surface Water Status and Trends team (Causal Analysis team lead)
  • Evaluating agricultural best management practices in northwestern MS
  • Ecological flows in the Cumberland and Tennessee River Basins
  • Water-quality trends in the Mississippi River Basin
  • Water use at thermoelectric powerplants
  • Water quality in the lowermost Mississippi and Atchafalya Rivers

 

Professional Experience

  • 2020-Present, Hydrologist, USGS, Central Midwest Water Science Center, DeKalb, Illinois

  • 2010-2020, Hydrologist, USGS,  Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, Nashville, TN

  • 2007-2009, Project Geologist, ECS Limited, Nashville, TN

  • Summer 2007, Field Geologist, US Forest Service, Lewis and Clark National Forest, Great Falls, MT

  • 2006-2007, Research Assistant, USGS, Eastern Mineral Resources, Reston, VA

Education and Certifications

  • M.S., Earth and Environmental Science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 2011

  • B.A., Geology, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin, 2006

Science and Products

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USGS Hydrologist Collects a Water-Quality Sample at Henry, Illinois

Harmful Algal Bloom Research and Monitoring - CMWSC

The Central Midwest Water Science Center (CMWSC) includes three states: Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The water science center is responsible for providing information on discharge, water quality, water-use, and groundwater data. The Harmful Algal Bloom (HABs) team is currently researching ways to better predict, analyze, and study HABs.
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Central Midwest Water Science Center
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Harmful Algal Bloom Research and Monitoring - CMWSC

The Central Midwest Water Science Center (CMWSC) includes three states: Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The water science center is responsible for providing information on discharge, water quality, water-use, and groundwater data. The Harmful Algal Bloom (HABs) team is currently researching ways to better predict, analyze, and study HABs.
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gage house next to body of water lined with fall colored trees

Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Delaware River Basin

Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. In the Delaware River Basin, which serves over 13 million people, water availability can be affected by drought, river temperature, salinity, and more. The Delaware River Basin IWAAs will investigate these and other water quantity, quality, and use issues to assess available water and how it changes over time.
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Water Resources
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Integrated Water Availability Assessments: Delaware River Basin

Integrated Water Availability Assessments examine water supply, use, and availability. In the Delaware River Basin, which serves over 13 million people, water availability can be affected by drought, river temperature, salinity, and more. The Delaware River Basin IWAAs will investigate these and other water quantity, quality, and use issues to assess available water and how it changes over time.
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USGS employee collecting water quality sample at USGS gage 09359020 Animas River below Silverton, CO.

Water-Quality Trends

Is water quality getting better or worse? Answering this deceptively simple question has been a fundamental objective of the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project’s research. Learn about trends in contaminants in the nation’s streams and rivers, trends in contaminants that collect in the bed sediment of streams and lakes, and changes in the quality of the nation’s groundwater.
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Water Resources, National Water Quality Program
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Water-Quality Trends

Is water quality getting better or worse? Answering this deceptively simple question has been a fundamental objective of the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Project’s research. Learn about trends in contaminants in the nation’s streams and rivers, trends in contaminants that collect in the bed sediment of streams and lakes, and changes in the quality of the nation’s groundwater.
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Stream in Tennessee forrest

Environmental Flow Research in the Tennessee River Basin

The objective of this project is to improve understanding of how alteration of streamflow characteristics affects the ecological health of rivers and streams in Tennessee. Initial efforts are aimed at identifying critical streamflow characteristics and providing a set of statistical tools and analytical approaches for the prediction of these characteristics. Application of these tools will enhance...
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center
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Environmental Flow Research in the Tennessee River Basin

The objective of this project is to improve understanding of how alteration of streamflow characteristics affects the ecological health of rivers and streams in Tennessee. Initial efforts are aimed at identifying critical streamflow characteristics and providing a set of statistical tools and analytical approaches for the prediction of these characteristics. Application of these tools will enhance...
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Filter Total Items: 13

Datasets of Suspended Sediment Concentration and Percent Fines (1973–2021), Sampling Information (1973–2021), and Daily Streamflow (1928–2021) for Sites in the Lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers

Datasets of suspended sediment concentration and percent fines, sampling information, and daily streamflow data were compiled and harmonized for 16 sites to better understand sediment transport and delivery in the Lower Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers. The compiled data were harmonized by removing unnecessary columns, screening data for laboratory or sampling issues, creating consistent entries
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Water-quality and streamflow datasets used in Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) models to determine trends in the Nation’s rivers and streams, 1972-2017

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of more than 50 major river basins across the Nation as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project. One of the major goals of the NAWQA project was to determine how river water quality has changed over time. To support that goal, long-term consistent and comparable monitoring has been conducted by the USGS on streams and r
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Data to Incorporate Water Quality Analysis into Navigation Assessments as Demonstrated in the Mississippi River Basin

This data release includes estimates of annual and monthly mean concentrations and fluxes for nitrate plus nitrite, orthophosphate and suspended sediment for nine sites in the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) produced using the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) model (Hirsch and De Cicco, 2015). It also includes a model archive (R scripts and readMe file) used to retrieve an
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Water-quality trends for rivers and streams in the Delaware River Basin using Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) models, Seasonal Kendall Trend (SKT) tests, and multisource data, Water Year 1978-2018

This data release provides water-quality trends for rivers and streams in the Delaware River Basin determined using the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) model and the Seasonal Kendall Trend (SKT) test. Sixteen water-quality parameters were assessed, including nutrients (ammonia, nitrate, filtered orthophosphate, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and unfiltered orthophosp
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Multi-source surface-water-quality data and U.S. Geological Survey streamgage match for the Delaware River Basin

Jointly managed by multiple states and the federal government, there are many ongoing efforts to characterize and understand water quality in the Delaware River Basin (DRB). Many State, Federal and non-profit organizations have collected surface-water-quality samples across the DRB for decades and many of these data are available through the National Water Quality Monitoring Council's Water Qualit
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Water Resources

Hydrologic event-based water-quality and streamflow data for three oxbow tributaries in northwestern Mississippi, 2007-2016

For about 10 years, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has monitored water quality and streamflow in three agricultural drainage ditches in an effort to evaluate the influence of best management practices on water quality. These ditches are small tributaries to oxbow lakes located in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain of northwestern Mississippi--two sites (LWSR and LWT2) drain to Lake Washington and o
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Water-quality trends and trend component estimates for the Nation's rivers and streams using Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) models and generalized flow normalization, 1972-2012

Nonstationary streamflow due to environmental and human-induced causes can affect water quality over time, yet these effects are poorly accounted for in water-quality trend models. This data release provides instream water-quality trends and estimates of two components of change, for sites across the Nation previously presented in Oelsner et al. (2017). We used previously calibrated Weighted Regre
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Annual estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load to support trend analysis on the Mississippi River and Atchafalaya River, 1980-2015

This data release contains annual estimates of suspended-sediment concentration and load for the Mississippi River, St. Francisville site and the Atchafalaya River, Melville site from 1980-2015. Annual estimates and flow-normalized estimates were generated using the Weighted Regressions on Time, Season and Discharge (WRTDS) model. Input data for the model included suspended-sediment concentrations
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Daily streamflow datasets used to analyze trends in streamflow at sites also analyzed for trends in water quality and ecological condition in the Nation's rivers and streams

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of more than 50 major river basins across the Nation as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project of the National Water-Quality Program. One of the major goals of the NAWQA project is to determine how water-quality conditions change over time. To support that goal, long-term consistent and comparable monitoring has been c
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Water Resources, National Water Quality Program

Water-quality and streamflow datasets used in the Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (WRTDS) models to determine trends in the Nations rivers and streams, 1972-2012

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of more than 50 major river basins across the Nation as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project of the National Water-Quality Program. One of the major goals of the NAWQA project is to determine how water-quality conditions change over time. To support that goal, long-term consistent and comparable monitoring has been c
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Water Resources

Water-quality and streamflow datasets used in Seasonal Kendall trend tests for the Nations rivers and streams, 1972-2012

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of more than 50 major river basins across the Nation as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project of the National Water-Quality Program. One of the major goals of the NAWQA project is to determine how water-quality conditions change over time. To support that goal, long-term consistent and comparable monitoring has been c
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Water Resources

Pesticide concentration and streamflow datasets used to evaluate pesticide trends in the Nations rivers and streams, 1992-2012

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study of more than 50 major river basins across the Nation as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) project of the National Water-Quality Program. One of the major goals of the NAWQA project is to determine how water-quality conditions change over time. To support that goal, long-term consistent and comparable monitoring has been c
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Water Resources
Filter Total Items: 23

Water-quality trends in the Delaware River Basin calculated using multisource data and two methods for trend periods ending in 2018

Many organizations in the Delaware River Basin (DRB) monitor surface-water quality for regulatory, scientific, and decision-making purposes. In support of these purposes, over 260,000 water-quality records provided by 8 different organizations were compiled, screened, and used to generate water-quality trends in the DRB. These trends, for periods of record that end in 2018, were generated for 124
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Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center

Water quality of sand and gravel aquifers in McHenry County, Illinois, 2020 and comparisons to conditions in 2010

McHenry County, Illinois, obtains most of its drinking water from shallow sand and gravel aquifers (groundwater). To evaluate this groundwater resource, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with McHenry County, Illinois, collected water-quality samples from 41 of 42 monitoring wells in the McHenry County Groundwater Monitoring Network and 4 monitoring wells from the U.S. Geological Survey Na
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Incorporating water quality analysis into navigation assessments as demonstrated in the Mississippi River Basin

A description of historical and ambient water quality conditions is often required as part of navigational studies. This paper describes a series of tools developed by the USGS that can aid navigation managers in developing water quality assessments. The tools use R, a statistical software program, and provide methods to retrieve historical streamflow and water quality data, summarize observations
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Central Midwest Water Science Center

Landscape drivers of dynamic change in water quality of US rivers

Water security is a top concern for social well-being and dramatic changes in the availability of freshwater have occurred as a result of human uses and landscape management. Elevated nutrient loading and perturbations to major ion composition have resulted from human activities and have degraded freshwater resources. This study addresses the emerging nature of stream water quality in the 21st ce
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Water Resources, New Jersey Water Science Center

A historical look at changing water quality in the Delaware River basin

In 2019 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) launched a pilot regional Integrated Water Availability Assessment (IWAA) in the Delaware River Basin (fig. 1). IWAA is intended to explore, test, and refine systems and processes for assessing water availability for human and ecological uses and understanding their underlying controls. Water quality plays an important role in supporting ecological health
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Water Resources, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center

Pooling resources across organizations — Multisource water-quality data for the Delaware River Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently launched a pilot Integrated Water Availability Assessment (IWAA) in the Delaware River Basin to explore, test, and refine systems and processes for assessing water availability for human and ecological uses based on water monitoring data. Water-quality monitoring provides citizens, managers, and scientists with the information needed to evaluate the healt
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Water Resources, New Jersey Water Science Center, Pennsylvania Water Science Center

Changing suspended sediment in United States rivers and streams: Linking sediment trends to changes in land use/cover, hydrology and climate

Sediment is one of the leading pollutants in rivers and streams across the United States (US) and the world. Between 1992 and 2012, concentrations of annual mean suspended sediment decreased at over half of the 137 stream sites assessed across the contiguous US. Increases occurred at less than 25 % of the sites, and the direction of change was uncertain at the remaining 25 %. Sediment trends were
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Assessing water-quality changes in agricultural drainages: Examples from oxbow lake tributaries in Mississippi, USA and simulation-based power analyses

Hydrology and water quality (suspended sediment, total nitrogen, ammonia, total Kjeldahl nitrogen, nitrate plus nitrite, and total phosphorus (TP)) were monitored in two small agricultural drainages in northwestern Mississippi to document changes in water quality that coincided with the implementation of BMPs in upstream drainages. Using an event-based dataset and bootstrapping techniques, we test
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Methods for computing water-quality loads at sites in the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network

The U.S. Geological Survey currently (2020) publishes information on concentrations and loads of water-quality constituents at 110 sites across the United States as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network (NWQN). This report details historical and updated methods for computing water-quality loads at NWQN sites. The primary updates to historical load estimation methods inc
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Water Resources, Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program, Kansas Water Science Center

Regional patterns of anthropogenic influences on streams and rivers in the conterminous United States, from the early 1970s to 2012

This paper introduces a dataset containing consistent time-series measurements of anthropogenic activities potentially affecting stream quality across the conterminous United States and summarizes the most noteworthy trends from 61 variables in 16 categories. Data include measures of atmospheric deposition, agricultural production, livestock, urbanization, irrigation, land use, nutrients from fer
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Water Resources

Tracking changes in nutrient delivery to western Lake Erie: Approaches to compensate for variability and trends in streamflow

Tracking changes in stream nutrient inputs to Lake Erie over multidecadal time scales depends on the use of statistical methods that can remove the influence of year-to-year variability of streamflow but also explicitly consider the influence of long-term trends in streamflow. The methods introduced in this paper include an extended version of Weighted Regressions on Time, Discharge, and Season (W
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Water-quality trends in US rivers: Exploring effects from streamflow trends and changes in watershed management

We present a conceptual model that explores the relationship of streamflow trends to 15 water-quality parameters at 370 sites across the contiguous United States (US). Our analytical framework uses discrete water-quality data, daily streamflow records, and a statistical model to estimate water-quality trends between 1982 and 2012 and parse these trends into the amount of change attributed to trend
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Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Murphy, J.C., G.M. Hornberger, and R.G. Liddle, 2014, Concentration–discharge relationships in the coal mined region of the New River basin and Indian Fork sub-basin, Tennessee, USA. Hydrological Processes 28: 718-728.
Debra Perrone, Jennifer Murphy, and George M. Hornberger (2011), Gaining Perspective on the Water−Energy Nexus at the Community Scale. Environ. Sci. Technol., 2011, 45 (10), pp 4228–4234
DOI: 10.1021/es103230n.

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Tracking Water Quality of the Nation's Streams and Rivers

An online graphical data tool provides annual summaries of nutrient and sediment concentrations and loads and streamflow information for 106 sites monitored as part of the USGS National Water-Quality Network for Streams and Rivers.

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Water Resources, National Water Quality Program
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Concentrations of suspended sediment decreasing in many US streams and rivers

A new USGS study reports that landscape management actions across the U.S. aimed at reducing concentrations of suspended sediment in streams and...

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