Scientific information in support of water resource management of the Big River area, Rhode Island
David S. Armstrong, John P. Masterson, Keith W. Robinson, Kathleen M. Crawley
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3035
The Rhode Island Water Resources Board (RIWRB) is concerned that the demand for water may exceed the available public water supply in central and southern Rhode Island. Although water is often assumed to be plentiful in Rhode Island because of abundant rainfall, an adequate supply of water is not always...
Water quality in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, drinking-water source area, 2005-8
Kirk P. Smith, Marcus C. Waldron
2015, Fact Sheet 2015-3030
During 2005-8, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Cambridge, Massachusetts, Water Department, measured concentrations of sodium and chloride, plant nutrients, commonly used pesticides, and caffeine in base-flow and stormwater samples collected from 11 tributaries in the Cambridge drinking-water source area. These data were used to characterize current water-quality...
Hydrologic conditions in Massachusetts during water year 2014
Richard J. Verdi
2015, Open-File Report 2015-1056
Hydrologic data and conditions throughout Massachusetts during water year 2014 (October 1, 2013, to September 30, 2014) are presented in this report. Stream discharge and groundwater levels during water year 2014 varied geographically across the State. The data are described as being above, below, or near normal in relation to...
Nutrient, suspended sediment, and trace element loads in the Blackstone River Basin in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 2007 to 2009
Marc J. Zimmerman, Marcus C. Waldron, Leslie A. DeSimone
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2015-5026
Nutrients, suspended sediment, and trace element loads in the Blackstone River and selected tributaries were estimated from composite water-quality samples in order to better understand the distribution and sources of these constituents in the river basin. The flow-proportional composite water-quality samples were collected during sequential 2-week periods at six stations...
Mercury in Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis):bioaccumulation and trans-Pacific Ocean migration
John A. Colman, Jacob I. Nogueira, Oscar C. Pancorbo, Carol A. Batdorf, Barbara A. Block
2015, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences (72) 1-9
Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus orientalis) have the largest home range of any tuna species and are well known for the capacity to make transoceanic migrations. We report the measurement of mercury (Hg) concentrations in wild Pacific bluefin tuna (PBFT), the first reported with known size-of-fish and capture location. The results...
Areas contributing recharge to production wells and effects of climate change on the groundwater system in the Chipuxet River and Chickasheen Brook Basins, Rhode Island
Paul J. Friesz, Janet Radway Stone
2015, Scientific Investigations Report 2014-5216
The Chipuxet River and Chickasheen Brook Basins in southern Rhode Island are an important water resource for public and domestic supply, irrigation, recreation, and aquatic habitat. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Rhode Island Department of Health, began a study in 2012 as part of an effort to...
An objective and parsimonious approach for classifying natural flow regimes at a continental scale
Stacey A. Archfield, Jonathan Kennen, Daren Carlisle, David M. Wolock
2014, River Research and Applications (30) 1166-1183
Hydro-ecological stream classification-the process of grouping streams by similar hydrologic responses and, by extension, similar aquatic habitat-has been widely accepted and is considered by some to be one of the first steps towards developing ecological flow targets. A new classification of 1543 streamgauges in the contiguous USA is presented by...
Science for the stewardship of the groundwater resources of Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Jeffrey R. Barbaro, John P. Masterson, Denis R. LeBlanc
2014, Fact Sheet 2014-3067
Groundwater is the sole source of drinking water and a major source of freshwater for domestic, industrial, and agricultural uses on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Groundwater discharged from aquifers also supports freshwater pond and stream ecosystems and coastal wetlands. Six hydraulically distinct groundwater-flow systems (lenses) have been delineated on Cape Cod....
Hydroclimatic regimes: a distributed water-balance framework for hydrologic assessment, classification, and management
Peter K. Weiskel, David M. Wolock, Phillip J. Zarriello, Richard M. Vogel, Sara B. Levin, Robert M. Lent
2014, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (18) 3855-3872
Runoff-based indicators of terrestrial water availability are appropriate for humid regions, but have tended to limit our basic hydrologic understanding of drylands – the dry-subhumid, semiarid, and arid regions which presently cover nearly half of the global land surface. In response, we introduce an indicator framework that gives equal weight...
Effects of sea-level rise on barrier island groundwater system dynamics: ecohydrological implications
John P. Masterson, Michael N. Fienen, E. Robert Thieler, Dean B. Gesch, Benjamin T. Gutierrez, Nathaniel G. Plant
2014, Ecohydrology (7) 1064-1071
We used a numerical model to investigate how a barrier island groundwater system responds to increases of up to 60 cm in sea level. We found that a sea-level rise of 20 cm leads to substantial changes in the depth of the water table and the extent and depth of...
Towards a publicly available, map-based regional software tool to estimate unregulated daily streamflow at ungauged rivers
Stacey A. Archfield, Peter A. Steeves, John D. Guthrie, Kernell G. Ries III
2013, Geoscientific Model Development (6) 101-115
Streamflow information is critical for addressing any number of hydrologic problems. Often, streamflow information is needed at locations that are ungauged and, therefore, have no observations on which to base water management decisions. Furthermore, there has been increasing need for daily streamflow time series to manage rivers for both human...
Topological and canonical kriging for design flood prediction in ungauged catchments: an improvement over a traditional regional regression approach?
Stacey A. Archfield, Alessio Pugliese, Attilio Castellarin, Jon O. Skøien, Julie E. Kiang
2013, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (17) 1575-1588
In the United States, estimation of flood frequency quantiles at ungauged locations has been largely based on regional regression techniques that relate measurable catchment descriptors to flood quantiles. More recently, spatial interpolation techniques of point data have been shown to be effective for predicting streamflow statistics (i.e., flood flows and...
Hydrologic, vegetation, and soil data collected in selected wetlands of the Big River Management area, Rhode Island, from 2008 through 2010
Meredith S. Borenstein, Francis C. Golet, David S. Armstrong, Robert F. Breault, Timothy D. McCobb, Peter K. Weiskel
2012, Data Series 666
The Rhode Island Water Resources Board planned to develop public water-supply wells in the Big River Management Area in Kent County, Rhode Island. Research in the United States and abroad indicates that groundwater withdrawal has the potential to affect wetland hydrology and related processes. In May 2008, the Rhode Island...
Estimated hydrologic budgets of kettle-hole ponds in coastal aquifers of southeastern Massachusetts
Donald A. Walter, John P. Masterson
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5137
Kettle-hole ponds in southeastern Massachusetts are in good hydraulic connection to an extensive coastal aquifer system that includes the Plymouth-Carver aquifer system on the mainland and aquifers underlying Cape Cod. The ponds receive water from, and contribute water to, the underlying glacial aquifer; ponds also receive water from precipitation and...
Factors influencing riverine fish assemblages in Massachusetts
David S. Armstrong, Todd A. Richards, Sara B. Levin
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5193
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game, conducted an investigation of fish assemblages in small- to medium-sized Massachusetts streams. The objective of this study was to determine relations between fish-assemblage...
Monitoring to assess progress toward meeting the Assabet River, Massachusetts, phosphorus total maximum daily load - Aquatic macrophyte biomass and sediment-phosphorus flux
Marc J. Zimmerman, Yu Qian, Tian Yong Q.
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5179
In 2004, the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for Total Phosphorus in the Assabet River, Massachusetts, was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The goal of the TMDL was to decrease the concentrations of the nutrient phosphorus to mitigate some of the instream ecological effects of eutrophication on the...
Time of travel and dispersion of a dye plume in the Blackstone River, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 2009
Gene W. Parker, Robert F. Breault, Andrew M. Waite, Elaine Hartman
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1284
To obtain copies of this report, please contact: Director, Division of Watershed Management, Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, 8 New Bond St., Worcester, MA 01608, (508) 792–7650...
Pharmaceutical compounds in Merrimack River water used for public supply, Lowell, Massachusetts, 2008-09
Andrew J. Massey, Marcus C. Waldron
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5192
This report presents results of a study conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, to determine the occurrence of 14 commonly used human-health pharmaceutical compounds and fecal-indicator bacteria in Merrimack River water used as a drinking-water source by 135,000 residents in...
Water-quality data from shallow pond-bottom groundwater in the Fishermans Cove area of Ashumet Pond, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, 2001-2010
Timothy D. McCobb, Denis R. LeBlanc
2011, Data Series 588
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) collected water-quality data between 2001 and 2010 in the Fishermans Cove area of Ashumet Pond, Falmouth, Massachusetts, where the eastern portion of a treated-wastewater plume, created by more than 60 years of overland disposal, discharges to the pond. Temporary drive points were installed, and shallow...
Surface-water, water-quality, and meteorological data for the Cambridge, Massachusetts, drinking-water source area, water years 2007-08
Kirk P. Smith
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1077
Records of water quantity, water quality, and meteorological parameters were continuously collected from three reservoirs, two primary streams, and five subbasin tributaries in the Cambridge, Massachusetts, drinking-water source area during water years 2007-08 (October 2006 through September 2008). Water samples were collected during base-flow conditions and storms in the Cambridge...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2010
Kirk P. Smith, Robert F. Breault
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1076
Streamflow and water-quality data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) or the Providence Water Supply Board (PWSB), Rhode Island's largest drinking-water supplier. Streamflow was measured or estimated by the USGS following standard methods at 23 streamgages; 14 of these stations were also equipped with instrumentation capable of continuously...
Effectiveness of catch basins equipped with hoods in retaining gross solids and hydrocarbons in highway runoff, Southeast Expressway, Boston, Massachusetts, 2008-09
Kirk P. Smith
2011, Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5182
Stormwater mobilizes litter and other debris along the roadway where it is transported to the highway drainage systems. Initial treatment for stormwater runoff typically is provided by catch basins in highway settings. Modification of catch basins to include hoods that cover the catch-basin outlet is intended to enhance catch-basin performance...
Elevation of the March-April 2010 flood high water in selected river reaches in Rhode Island
Phillip J. Zarriello, Gardner C. Bent
2011, Open-File Report 2011-1029
A series of widespread, large, low-pressure systems in southern New England in late February through late March 2010 resulted in record, or near record, rainfall and runoff. The total rainfall in the region during this period ranged from about 19 to 25 inches, which coupled with seasonal low evaporation, resulted...
Elevation of the March - April 2010 flood high water in selected river reaches in central and eastern Massachusetts
Phillip J. Zarriello, Gardner C. Bent
2011, Open-File Report 2010-1315
A series of widespread, large, low-pressure systems in southern New England in late February through late March 2010 resulted in record, or near record, rainfall and runoff. The total rainfall in the region during this period ranged from about 17 to 25 inches, which coupled with seasonal low evaporation, resulted...
Quality of stormwater runoff discharged from Massachusetts highways, 2005-07
Kirk P. Smith, Gregory E. Granato
2010, Scientific Investigations Report 2009-5269
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration and the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, conducted a field study from September 2005 through September 2007 to characterize the quality of highway runoff for a wide range of constituents. The highways studied had annual average...