Martha G Nielsen
Science and Products
New England Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for New England is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the...
Connecticut Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for Connecticut is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the...
Maine Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for Maine is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the stress on...
Massachusetts Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for Massachusetts is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the...
New Hampshire Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for New Hampshire is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the...
Rhode Island Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for Rhode Island is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the...
Vermont Water Use
Background: The U.S. Geological Survey has compiled the Nation's water-use data at the county, State, and national levels every 5 years since 1950. The most recent estimated water-use compilation was completed in 2015. A summary for Vermont is presented on this web page.
The Issue: Comprehensive water-use data analysis is needed to quantify the stress...
Recharge Estimates for Maine: 25-year Average, Range, and Uncertainty, 1990-2015
The USGS Soil-Water-Balance model (SWB) has been used to estimate potential recharge across the State of Maine. The average and range (minimum and maximum) of annual recharge were estimated for the 25-year period from 1990 to 2015. Datasets of estimated recharge and the modeled uncertainty in the recharge estimates are available for download.
Initial estimates of net infiltration and irrigation from a soil-water-balance model of the Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study Area
The Mississippi embayment encompasses about 100,000 square miles and covers parts of eight States. In 2016, the U.S. Geological Survey began updating previous work for a part of the embayment known as the Mississippi Alluvial Plain to support informed water use and agricultural policy in the region. Groundwater, water use, economic, and other...
Westenbroek, Stephen, M.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Ladd, David E.
Estimated groundwater withdrawals from principal aquifers in the United States, 2015
In 2015, about 84,600 million gallons per day (Mgal/d) of groundwater were withdrawn in the United States for various uses including public supply, self-supplied domestic, industrial, mining, thermoelectric power, aquaculture, livestock, and irrigation. Of this total, about 94 percent (79,200 Mgal/d) was withdrawn from principal aquifers, which...
Lovelace, John K.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Read, Amy L.; Murphy, Chid J.; Maupin, Molly A.
Groundwater recharge estimates for Maine using a Soil-Water-Balance model—25-year average, range, and uncertainty, 1991 to 2015
To address the lack of information on the spatial and temporal variability of recharge to groundwater systems in Maine, a study was initiated in cooperation with the Maine Geological Survey to use the U.S. Geological Survey Soil-Water-Balance model to evaluate annual average potential recharge across the State over a 25-year period from 1991 to...
Nielsen, Martha G.; Westenbroek, Stephen M.
The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator—A decision-support tool to estimate water availability at ungaged stream locations in Connecticut
Freshwater streams in Connecticut are subject to many competing demands, including public water supply; agricultural, commercial, and industrial water use; and ecosystem and habitat needs. In recent years, drought has further stressed Connecticut’s water resources. To sustainably allocate and manage water resources among these competing uses,...
Levin, Sara B.; Olson, Scott A.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Granato, Gregory E.
Groundwater-level trends in the U.S. glacial aquifer system, 1964-2013
The glacial aquifer system in the United States is a major source of water supply but previous work on historical groundwater trends across the system is lacking. Trends in annual minimum, mean, and maximum groundwater levels for 205 monitoring wells were analyzed across three regions of the system (East, Central, West Central) for four time...
Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Dudley, Robert W.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Renard, Benjamin; Qi, Sharon L.
Simulation of groundwater flow and streamflow depletion in the Branch Brook, Merriland River, and parts of the Mousam River watersheds in southern Maine
Watersheds of three streams, the Mousam River, Branch Brook, and Merriland River in southeastern Maine were investigated from 2010 through 2013 under a cooperative project between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Maine Geological Survey. The Branch Brook watershed previously had been deemed “at risk” by the Maine Geological Survey...
Nielsen, Martha G.; Locke, Daniel B. Flow and sorption controls of groundwater arsenic in individual boreholes from bedrock aquifers in central Maine, USA
To understand the hydrogeochemical processes regulating well water arsenic (As) evolution in fractured bedrock aquifers, three domestic wells with [As] up to 478 μg/L are investigated in central Maine. Geophysical logging reveals that fractures near the borehole bottom contribute 70-100% of flow. Borehole and fracture water samples from various...
Yang, Qiang; Culbertson, Charles W.; Nielsen, Martha G.; Schalk, Charles W.; Johnson, Carole D.; Marvinney, Robert G.; Stute, Martin; Zheng, Yan
Changes in nitrogen loading to the Northeast Creek Estuary, Bar Harbor, Maine, 2000 to 2010
Since 1999, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service have been monitoring land use and nitrogen loading in a 26.3-square-kilometer (10-square-mile) estuarine watershed at Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, Maine. The initial study linking land use and nitrogen loads entering the Northeast Creek estuary was completed in 2000...
Nielsen, Martha G.
High-water marks from tropical storm Irene for selected river reaches in northwestern Massachusetts, August 2011
A Presidential Disaster Declaration was issued for Massachusetts, with a focus on the northwestern counties, following flooding from tropical storm Irene on August 28–29, 2011. Three to 10 inches of rain fell during the storm on soils that were susceptible to flash flooding because of wet antecedent conditions. The gage height at one U.S....
Bent, Gardner C.; Medalie, Laura; Nielsen, Martha G.
Estimates of future inundation of salt marshes in response to sea-level rise in and around Acadia National Park, Maine
Salt marshes are ecosystems that provide many important ecological functions in the Gulf of Maine. The U.S. Geological Survey investigated salt marshes in and around Acadia National Park from Penobscot Bay to the Schoodic Peninsula to map the potential for landward migration of marshes using a static inundation model of a sea-level rise scenario...
Nielsen, Martha G.; Dudley, Robert W.
Simulation of groundwater conditions and streamflow depletion to evaluate water availability in a Freeport, Maine, watershed
In order to evaluate water availability in the State of Maine, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Maine Geological Survey began a cooperative investigation to provide the first rigorous evaluation of watersheds deemed "at risk" because of the combination of instream flow requirements and proportionally large water withdrawals. The study...
Nielsen, Martha G.; Locke, Daniel B.
Simulation of streamflow in the Pleasant, Narraguagus, Sheepscot, and Royal Rivers, Maine, using watershed models
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began a study in 2008 to investigate anticipated changes in summer streamflows and stream temperatures in four coastal Maine river basins and the potential effects of those changes on populations of endangered Atlantic salmon. To achieve this purpose, it was necessary to characterize the quantity and timing of...
Dudley, Robert W.; Nielsen, Martha G.