Sandra Eberts
Biography
Sandra Eberts is the Program Science Coordinator for the USGS Water Resources Mission Area, Office of Planning and Programming (OPP). One of her primary responsibilities is to engage regional and national-level stakeholders to cultivate opportunity for USGS science to meet their needs and to create excitement for USGS products long before their planned release. Sandy is the USGS representative to the Source Water Collaborative—29 national organizations united to protect America's sources of drinking water. She is a member of the American Water Works Association Groundwater Committee, the International Joint Commission Science Advisory Board - Research Coordination Committee, and the Great Lakes Coordinating Committee Executive Support Group. Sandy serves as the USGS point-of-contact for the Urban Waters Federal Partnership.
Sandy is a Professional Hydrogeologist. She holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Geology from The Ohio State University and a Certificate in Legislative Studies from Georgetown University. She has been with the USGS for more than 35 years.
Science and Products
USGS Streamgaging Network
The USGS Groundwater and Streamflow Information Program supports the collection and (or) delivery of both streamflow and water-level information for more than 8,500 sites and water-level information alone for more than 1,700 additional sites. The data are served online—most in near realtime—to meet many diverse needs.
Improving representation of groundwater in foundational Great Lakes hydrologic and hydrodynamic models and data sets
Groundwater plays a critical role in the water balance, however the groundwater component of the hydrologic cycle is frequently overlooked at basin scales because it is difficult to observe and quantify. We address this problem through a novel framework that combines existing hydrological models and data sets with groundwater flux estimates across Earth's largest system of lakes; the...
Urban Waters Federal Partnership Cooperative Matching Funds Projects
The Urban Waters Federal Partnership (UWFP) reconnects urban communities—particularly those that are overburdened or economically distressed—with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies.
National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA)
Our surface water, groundwater, and aquatic ecosystems are priceless resources, used by people across the Nation for drinking, irrigation, industry, and recreation. The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project is a leading source of scientific data and knowledge for development of science-based policies and management strategies to improve and protect our water resources.
USGS Streamgages By the Numbers
Get the facts and figures about the USGS Streamgaging Network, one of the largest streamgaging enterprises in the world!
Factors Affecting Vulnerability of Public-Supply Wells to Contamination
More than 100 million people in the United States—about 35 percent of the population—receive their drinking water from public-supply wells. These systems can be vulnerable to contamination from naturally occurring constituents, such as radon, uranium and arsenic, and from commonly used manmade chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides, solvents, and gasoline hydrocarbons. Learn about the...
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...
Water priorities for the Nation—U.S. Geological Survey Integrated Water Availability Assessments
The United States faces growing challenges to its water supply, infrastructure, and aquatic ecosystems because of population growth, climate change, floods and droughts, and aging water delivery systems. To help address these challenges, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Water Resources Mission Area has established new strategic priorities that...
Miller, Mark P.; Clark, Brian R.; Eberts, Sandra M.; Lambert, Patrick M.; Toccalino, PatriciaWater priorities for the nation—The U.S. Geological Survey next generation water observing system
The challenges of providing safe and sustainable water supplies for human and ecological uses and protecting lives and property during water emergencies are well recognized. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) plays an essential role in meeting these challenges through its observational networks and renowned water science and research activities (...
Eberts, Sandra M.; Wagner, Chad R.; Woodside, Michael D.Monitoring the pulse of our Nation's rivers and streams—The U.S. Geological Survey streamgaging network
In the late 1800s, John Wesley Powell, second Director of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), proposed gaging the flow of rivers and streams in the Western United States to evaluate the potential for irrigation. Around the same time, several cities in the Eastern United States established primitive streamgages to help design water-supply systems....
Eberts, Sandra M.; Woodside, Michael D.; Landers, Mark N.; Wagner, Chad R.A hybrid machine learning model to predict and visualize nitrate concentration throughout the Central Valley aquifer, California, USA
Intense demand for water in the Central Valley of California and related increases in groundwater nitrate concentration threaten the sustainability of the groundwater resource. To assess contamination risk in the region, we developed a hybrid, non-linear, machine learning model within a statistical learning framework to predict nitrate...
Ransom, Katherine M.; Nolan, Bernard T.; Traum, Jonathan A.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Bell, Andrew M.; Gronberg, Jo Ann M.; Wheeler, David C.; Zamora, Celia; Jurgens, Bryant C.; Schwarz, Gregory E.; Belitz, Kenneth; Eberts, Sandra M.; Kourakos, George; Harter, ThomasPhosphorus (P) and HABs: Sources of P discharged from the Maumee River into Lake Erie
No abstract available.
Muenich, Rebecca Logsdon; Johnson, Laura; Bratton, John F.; Fussell, Kristin DeVanna; Kane, Doug; Kalcic, Margaret; Robertson, Dale M.; Eberts, Sandra M.; Evans, Mary Anne; Gibbons, Kenneth J.Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms and U.S. Geological Survey science capabilities
Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are increasingly a global concern because CyanoHABs pose a threat to human and aquatic ecosystem health and cause economic damages. Despite advances in scientific understanding of cyanobacteria and associated compounds, many unanswered questions remain about occurrence, environmental triggers for...
Graham, Jennifer L.; Dubrovsky, Neil M.; Eberts, Sandra M.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.Educational webtool illustrating groundwater age effects on contaminant trends in wells
No abstract available.
Böhlke, John Karl; Jurgens, Bryant C.; Uselmann, David J.; Eberts, Sandra M.If groundwater is contaminated, will water from the well be contaminated?
No abstract available.
Eberts, Sandra M.Modeling nitrate at domestic and public-supply well depths in the Central Valley, California
Aquifer vulnerability models were developed to map groundwater nitrate concentration at domestic and public-supply well depths in the Central Valley, California. We compared three modeling methods for ability to predict nitrate concentration >4 mg/L: logistic regression (LR), random forest classification (RFC), and random forest regression (RFR...
Nolan, Bernard T.; Gronberg, JoAnn M.; Faunt, Claudia C.; Eberts, Sandra M.; Belitz, KenThe quality of our Nation's waters: factors affecting public-supply-well vulnerability to contamination: understanding observed water quality and anticipating future water quality
As part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program, a study was conducted from 2001 to 2011 to shed light on factors that affect the vulnerability of water from public-supply wells to contamination (referred to hereafter as “public-supply-well vulnerability”). The study was designed as a follow-up to earlier...
Eberts, Sandra M.; Thomas, Mary Ann; Jagucki, Martha L.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.Pre-USGS Publications
Groundwater Age Mixtures and Contaminant Trends Tool (GAMACTT)
The USGS Groundwater Age Mixtures and Contaminant Trends Tool (GAMACTT) can be used to explore the effects of basic aquifer properties and well configurations on groundwater age mixtures in groundwater discharge and on contaminant trends from varying nonpoint-source contaminant input scenarios.