Laura M Bexfield
Science and Products
Metals and Other Trace Elements
Metals, metalloids, and radionuclides all are trace elements that occur naturally in the Earth's crust. In small quantities many trace elements are essential for health in all living organisms, but some trace elements can be toxic or cause cancer, and some can bioaccumulate. The USGS investigates where and how trace elements make their way into our Nation's surface water and groundwater.
Drinking Water Taste and Odor
Some water is just unpleasant to drink—it’s cloudy, or it smells or tastes bad. Some drinking water discolors teeth or skin, stains laundry or plumbing fixtures, or corrodes or clogs pipes. These effects are caused when some naturally occurring constituents occur at concentrations high enough to be a nuisance, and are particularly common where groundwater is used as a drinking water supply....
Public-Supply Well Pumping Regimes Influence Quality of Water Produced
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists studying the vulnerability of public-supply wells to contamination have identified ways in which the seasonal operation of public-supply wells can affect the quality of water that they produce. By incorporating historical water-quality data into models of fluid flow, USGS scientists were able to estimate the amount of contaminated groundwater reaching a...
Chemical Modeling of Consequences of Surface-Water Delivery Through Existing City of Albuquerque Infrastructure
The City of Albuquerque has historically obtained all of its municipal-supply water from production wells completed in sediment of the Santa Fe Group aquifer system. Like several communities in the Rio Grande Valley and various parts of the arid Southwest, Albuquerque has evaluated the use of surface water as a means to improve sustainability of its municipal water supply. The City currently...
Middle Rio Grande Basin Study
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Middle Rio Grande Basin Study was a 6-year effort (1995-2001) by the USGS and other agencies to improve the understanding of the hydrology, geology, and land-surface characteristics of the Middle Rio Grande Basin in order to provide the scientific information needed for water-resources management. The Santa Fe Group aquifer system is the main source of...
Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2014
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 502 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and are included in this report. Most of the wells (500) were sampled from January through December 2015, and 2 of them were sampled in 2013. The data were collected from five...
Arnold, Terri L.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Stackelberg, Paul E.; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Kingsbury, James A.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Belitz, Kenneth
Data analysis considerations for pesticides determined by National Water Quality Laboratory schedule 2437
In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) made a new method available for the analysis of pesticides in filtered water samples: laboratory schedule 2437. Schedule 2437 is an improvement on previous analytical methods because it determines the concentrations of 225 fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and...
Shoda, Megan E.; Nowell, Lisa H.; Stone, Wesley W.; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Bexfield, Laura M.
Groundwater-quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2014 and select quality-control data from May 2012 through December 2014
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 559 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from January through December 2014. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of...
Arnold, Terri L.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Stackelberg, Paul E.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Desimone, Leslie A.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Kingsbury, James A.; Ayotte, Joseph D.; Fleming, Brandon J.; Belitz, Kenneth
Groundwater quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, May 2012 through December 2013
Groundwater-quality data were collected from 748 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program from May 2012 through December 2013. The data were collected from four types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which assess the quality of groundwater used...
Arnold, Terri L.; Desimone, Leslie A.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Lindsey, Bruce D.; Barlow, Jeannie R. B.; Kulongoski, Justin T.; Musgrove, MaryLynn; Kingsbury, James A.; Belitz, Kenneth
Global patterns and environmental controls of perchlorate and nitrate co-occurrence in arid and semi-arid environments
Natural perchlorate (ClO4−) is of increasing interest due to its wide-spread occurrence on Earth and Mars, yet little information exists on the relative abundance of ClO4− compared to other major anions, its stability, or long-term variations in production that may impact the observed distributions. Our objectives were to evaluate the occurrence...
Jackson, W Andrew; Böhlke, John K.; Andraski, Brian J.; Fahlquist, Lynne S.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Eckardt, Frank D.; Gates, John B.; Davila, Alfonso F.; McKay, Christopher P.; Rao, Balaji; Sevanthi, Ritesh; Rajagopalan, Srinath; Estrada, Nubia; Sturchio, Neil C.; Hatzinger, Paul B.; Anderson, Todd A.; Orris, Greta J.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Stonestrom, David A.; Latorre, Claudio; Li, Yanhe; Harvey, Gregory J. Effects of seasonal operation on the quality of water produced by public-supply wells
Seasonal variability in groundwater pumping is common in many places, but resulting effects of seasonal pumping stress on the quality of water produced by public-supply wells are not thoroughly understood. Analysis of historical water-quality samples from public-supply wells completed in deep basin-fill aquifers in Modesto, California (134 wells)...
Bexfield, Laura M.; Jurgens, Bryant C. A ternary age-mixing model to explain contaminant occurrence in a deep supply well
The age distribution of water from a public-supply well in a deep alluvial aquifer was estimated and used to help explain arsenic variability in the water. The age distribution was computed using a ternary mixing model that combines three lumped parameter models of advection-dispersion transport of environmental tracers, which represent relatively...
Jurgens, Bryant C.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Eberts, Sandra M.
Assessing the vulnerability of public-supply wells to contamination: Rio Grande aquifer system in Albuquerque, New Mexico
This fact sheet highlights findings from the vulnerability study of a public-supply well in Albuquerque, New Mexico (hereafter referred to as “the study well”). The study well produces about 3,000 gallons of water per minute from the Rio Grande aquifer system. Water samples were collected at the study well, at two other nearby public-supply wells...
Jagucki, Martha L.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Heywood, Charles E.; Eberts, Sandra M.
Maps of estimated nitrate and arsenic concentrations in basin-fill aquifers of the southwestern United States
Human-health concerns and economic considerations associated with meeting drinking-water standards motivated a study of the vulnerability of basin-fill aquifers to nitrate contamination and arsenic enrichment in the southwestern United States. Statistical models were developed by using the random forest classifier algorithm to predict...
Beisner, Kimberly R.; Anning, David W.; Paul, Angela P.; McKinney, Tim S.; Huntington, Jena M.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Thiros, Susan A.
Predicted nitrate and arsenic concentrations in basin-fill aquifers of the Southwestern United States
The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting a regional analysis of water quality in the principal aquifer systems across the United States. The Southwest Principal Aquifers (SWPA) study is building a better understanding of the susceptibility and vulnerability of basin-fill aquifers in...
Anning, David W.; Paul, Angela P.; McKinney, Tim S.; Huntington, Jena M.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Thiros, Susan A.
Hydrogeology, water chemistry, and transport processes in the zone of contribution of a public-supply well in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2007-9
The National Water-Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) of the U.S. Geological Survey began a series of groundwater studies in 2001 in representative aquifers across the Nation in order to increase understanding of the factors that affect transport of anthropogenic and natural contaminants (TANC) to public-supply wells. One of 10 regional-scale TANC...
Bexfield, Laura M.; Jurgens, Bryant C.; Crilley, Dianna M.; Christenson, Scott C.
Estimated 2008 groundwater potentiometric surface and predevelopment to 2008 water-level change in the Santa Fe Group aquifer system in the Albuquerque area, central New Mexico
The water-supply requirements of the Albuquerque metropolitan area of central New Mexico have historically been met almost exclusively by groundwater withdrawal from the Santa Fe Group aquifer system. Previous studies have indicated that the large quantity of groundwater withdrawal relative to recharge has resulted in water-level declines in the...
Falk, Sarah E.; Bexfield, Laura M.; Anderholm, Scott K.
Pharmaceuticals and hormones few and at low concentrations in groundwater, USGS scientists find
The topic of pharmaceuticals and hormones in drinking water gets people’s attention, but if that drinking water is pumped from a well, those chemicals are less likely to be present, according to a new national study by the U.S. Geological Survey and published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.