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As part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages Study Unit, a current map of land use and land cover is needed to gain a better understanding of how land use and land cover may influence water quality. Satellite data from the...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with local and other agencies, collects data at selected lakes throughout Wisconsin. These data, accumulated over many years, provide a data base for developing an improved understanding of the water quality of lakes. To make these data available to interested parties outside the...

Streamwater samples were collected from April 1993 through July 1995 at 11 fixed sites in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages Study Unit of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Water samples were collected monthly at all Fixed Sites, and an additional two to four samples were collected each...

A cooperative project between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was begun with the objectives of describing water quality and its relation to the hydrology of Wisconsin's principal aquifers and summarizing instances of ground-water contamination and quality problems from information available in DNR...

In 1992, residents near Kirby Lake, located about five miles northwest of Cumberland, in Barron County, Wisconsin, formed the Kirby Lake Management District. The Lake District immediately began to gather information needed for the preparation of a comprehensive lake-management plan that would be used to protect the natural and recreational...

The statewide average precipitation of 31.79 inches for the 1997 water year was the same as the normal annual precipitation of 31.79 inches for water years 1961-90. Average precipitation values ranged from 78 percent of normal at Mauston 1 SE WWTP weather station in central Wisconsin to 139 percent of...

Wisconsin's water-monitoring network is in danger of losing critical ground-water, surface-water, and water-quality monitoring stations. Since 1995, the ground-water network has decreased by 43 observation wells, the surface-water network by 7 stations, and the surface-water- quality network by 30 stations. Reductions in Wisconsin's water-monitoring network could cause serious risk to...

This report contains the quality control results of the Western Lake Michigan Drainages study unit of the National Water Quality Assessment Program. Quality control samples were collected in the same manner and contemporaneously with environmental samples during the first highintensity study phase in the unit (1992 through 1995) and amounted...

Phosphorus retention by wetland sediments and vegetation was investigated in Jackson Creek wetland, an extension of an existing prairie marsh in southeastern Wisconsin. The extended wetland construction was undertaken in 1992-93 to help reduce the phosphorus loading to a downstream eutrophic lake. Two approaches were used to study potential and...

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey began to implement its National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The Western Lake Michigan Drainages was one of 20 study units selected for investigation to begin in 1991. The study-unit investigation will include an assessment of surface- and ground-water quality. The quality of water in...

The concentrations of contaminants generated from discrete source areas are critical to urban nonpoint Source Load and Management Model (SLAMM) loading calculations to Lake Superior. This study summarizes data-collection efforts during 12 storms in October 1993 and from May through August 1994, in which stormwater data were collected concurrently at...

Watershed planners in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) and in Wisconsin county governments use estimates of loads of total solids and total phosphorus in streams for numerous management purposes. A few examples of these are to establish load reduction goals, to estimate the relative magnitude of nonpoint sources...

Sampling was conducted in 1992,1994, and 1995 to determine the occurrence of a broad suite of trace elements and synthetic organic compounds in biota and streambed sediment in selected streams in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages a study unit of the National Water- Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the U.S....

Habitat characteristics of 11 fixed sites in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages were examined by the U.S. Geological Survey from 1993 through 1995 as part of the ecological assessment of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program. Evaluation of habitat consisted of more than 75 measurements at three spatial levels: drainage basin,...

Fish communities were surveyed at 20 wadable stream sites during 1993-95 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water- Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program's assessment of the Western Lake Michigan Drainages. Part of the NAWQA design is to incorporate ecological data into an overall environmental assessment. Collection of fish-community...

An important part of the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is the analysis of existing data in each of the NAWQA study areas. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) has an extensive aquatic benthic macroinvertebrate communities in streams (benthic invertebrates) database maintained by the University...

Herbicides, particularly those applied to corn, can be found in surface water and ground water in Wisconsin (Sullivan and Richards, 1996; Matzen and Saad, 1996). Wisconsin farmers applied 7.6 million pounds of corn herbicides during 1996. Because of public concern about the amount of herbicides applied to Wisconsin farm fields...

An understanding of the magnitude and frequency of low-flow discharges is an important part of protecting surface-water resources and planning for municipal and industrial economic expansion. Low-flow characteristics are summarized for 7 continuous-record gaging stations and 23 partial-record measuring sites in the Deep River Basin in North Carolina. Records of...

As part of the National Water-Use Information Program, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) stores water-use data in standardized format for different categories of water use. The data base (Site Specific Water Use Data System) is updated annually or as more current water-use information becomes available. Information about amounts of water...

Water-quality and geohydrologic data were collected between September 1993 and September 1994, from 56 wells and 2 springs, in two agricultural areas in the Western Lake Michigan Drainages study unit of the National-Water Quality Assessment Program. These data were used to study the effects of land use and geohydrology on...

Wetlands, once perceived as worthless land, are now recognized as a necessary component of a vital landscape. However, due to draining and filling we have lost many of our wetlands. The loss of wetlands can have undesirable effects on the landscape, such as erosion, flooding, habitat loss and deterioration of...

In 1991, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began implementation of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of the NAWQA Program are to describe the status and trends in the quality of a large, representative part of the Nation's surface- and ground- water resources, and to identify,...

In 1992, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, in cooperation with the U.S. Geological Survey, began a land-use inventory to identify sources of contaminants and track the land-management changes for eight evaluation monitoring watersheds in Wisconsin. An important component of the land-use inventory has been developing descriptions and preliminary assessments...

The statewide average precipitation of 33.37 inches for the 1996 water year was 105 percent of the normal annual precipitation of 31.79 inches for water years 1961-90. Average precipitation values ranged from 77 percent of normal at Trempealeau Dam 6 weather station in west central Wisconsin to 151 percent of...

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with local and other agencies, collects data at selected lakes throughout Wisconsin. These data, accumulated over many years, provide a data base for developing an improved understanding of the water quality of lakes. To make these data available to interested parties outside the...