Erosion potential and flood vulnerability of streams and stream crossings at Acadia National Park, Maine
Ian P. Armstrong, Meghan A. McCallister, Kristina M. Hyslop, Adam J. Benthem
2026, Scientific Investigations Report 2026-5116
Acadia National Park has had increases in the frequency and magnitude of precipitation in recent years, leading to increased flood flows, stream erosion, and costly infrastructure damage. To improve infrastructure management in a changing climate, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, has developed multiple datasets...
Effects of groundwater withdrawals for water bottling and municipal use, Wards Brook Valley, Maine and New Hampshire
John R Mullaney, Janet R. Barclay, Jennifer S. Stanton, Carl S Carlson, Madeleine Holland
2026, Preprint
Hydrologic models for the Wards Brook valley near Fryeburg, Maine were developed for historical (2016 – 2021) and hypothetical future conditions (2046 – 2065 and 2080 – 2099) to understand the effects of groundwater withdrawals for bottled water and municipal use on hydrologic conditions (stream base flows and groundwater levels)....
Winter 2026
Katrina Rossos
2026, Newsletter
No abstract available....
Estimating flood discharges at selected annual exceedance probabilities for unregulated, rural streams in Vermont, 2023
Scott A. Olson
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5088
This report provides estimates of flood discharge at selected annual exceedance probabilities (AEPs) for streamgages in and adjacent to Vermont and equations for estimating flood discharges at AEPs of 50-, 20-, 10-, 4-, 2-, 1-, 0.5-, and 0.2-percent (recurrence intervals of 2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50-, 100-, and 500-years, respectively)...
User’s guide for the National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR)
Richard B. Moore, Lucinda D. McKay, Alan H. Rea, Timothy R. Bondelid, Curtis V. Price, Thomas G. Dewald, Laura Hayes
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5031
The National Hydrography Dataset Plus High Resolution (NHDPlus HR) is a scalable hydrologic geospatial fabric or framework, built from (1) the High Resolution (1:24,000-scale or better) National Hydrography Dataset (NHD), (2) nationally complete Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD), and (3) 1/3-arc-second 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) digital elevation model (DEM) data (at...
Linking stream-reach nitrogen loads and groundwater “reachsheds” to inform wastewater-nitrogen management actions, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Timothy D. McCobb, Denis R. LeBlanc, Jeffrey R. Barbaro, Marcel Belaval
2025, Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies (62)
Study RegionCape Cod, Massachusetts, U.S.A.Study FocusAnthropogenic nitrogen (N) is a key factor in degrading groundwater and surface-water quality, particularly in coastal New England where onsite wastewater systems are prevalent. This study evaluated whether direct N-load measurements...
Methods for estimating selected low-flow statistics at gaged and ungaged stream sites in Massachusetts
Gardner C. Bent, Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Jennifer H. Fair
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5082
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, Office of Water Resources, computed selected at-site streamflow statistics at U.S. Geological Survey streamgages in and near Massachusetts and developed regional regression equations for estimating selected streamflows at ungaged stream sites in Massachusetts. Two sets of...
Simulated Hydrologic Responses to Proposed Wastewater-Return-Flow Scenarios in Falmouth, Massachusetts
Kendall M.F. Goldstein, Timothy D. McCobb
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5066
The Cape Cod aquifer is the sole source of drinking water for communities on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, including the Town of Falmouth, where the aquifer is currently threatened by contamination from septic-system-derived nitrogen. To address this problem, the Town is proposing to sewer areas of Falmouth, treat the wastewater at...
Water-resources inventory and assessment at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
Amanda L. Tudor
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5070
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the National Park Service, prepared a water-resources inventory and assessment for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument (KAWW). This compilation includes published and publicly accessible hydrologic data and resource assessments of streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, wetlands, vernal pools, and groundwater in and near...
Launching into societal benefits from the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission
Margaret Srinivasan, Vardis Tsontos, Matthew Bonnema, Santiago Pena-Luque, Alexandre de Amorim-Teixiera, Alexandre Abdalla Araujo, Edward Beighley, Charon Birkett, Curtis Chen, Louise Croneborg-Jones, Cedric David, Shailen Desai, Alain Dib, Bradley Doorn, Robert W. Dudley, Bareerah Fatima, Luciana Fenoglio, Renato Prata de Moraes Frasson, Chandana Gangodagamage, Stephanie Granger, Isabel Houghton, Gregg Jacobs, Indu Jayaluxmi, Pierre-Yves Le Traon, Cassandra Nickles, Nicolas Picot, Guy Schumann, Babette Tchonang, Paula Torre Zaffaroni, Peter Van Oevelen, Jinbo Wang, Jerry Wegiel
2025, Water Resources Research (61)
The 10th Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) Applications Meeting, held one year after the satellite's launch, highlighted significant milestones in mission progress and showcased the innovative work of SWOT Early Adopters (EA) using mission data products. Over 100 participants from diverse sectors convened to discuss operational applications leveraging SWOT's...
Development of regression equations to estimate flow durations, low-flow frequencies, and mean flows at ungaged stream sites in Connecticut using data through water year 2022
Elizabeth A. Ahearn, Gardner C. Bent
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5027
To aid Federal and State regulatory agencies in the effective management of water resources, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Connecticut Department of Transportation, updated flow statistics for 118 streamgages and developed 47 regression equations to estimate selected flow...
Occurrence and tissue distribution of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in fishes from waterbodies with point and non-point sources in Massachusetts, USA
Heather L. Walsh, Vicki S. Blazer, Emma Lord, Stephen T. Hurley, Denis R. LeBlanc
2025, Aquatic Toxicology (287)
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent environmental contaminants with known bioaccumulative and toxic effects in aquatic ecosystems. This study assessed site-specific differences in PFAS contamination in fish from Ashumet Pond, Sudbury River, and Great Herring Pond (reference site) in Massachusetts. Fish from Ashumet Pond exhibited the highest PFAS concentrations,...
Borehole geophysical time-series logging to monitor passive ISCO treatment of residual chlorinated-ethenes in a confining bed, NAS Pensacola, Florida
Philip Harte, Michael A. Singletary, James E. Landmeyer
2025, Hydrology Journal (12)
In-situ chemical oxidation (ISCO) is a common method to remediate chlorinated ethene contaminants in groundwater. Monitoring the effectiveness of ISCO can be hindered because of insufficient observations to assess oxidant delivery. Advantageously, potassium permanganate, one type of oxidant, provides the opportunity to use its strong electrical signal as a surrogate...
Flood of July 2023 in Vermont
Travis L. Smith, Scott A. Olson, James M. LeNoir, Rena D. Kalmon, Elizabeth A. Ahearn
2025, Scientific Investigations Report 2025-5016
A major storm caused catastrophic flooding in many parts of Vermont on July 9–12, 2023, resulting in millions of dollars in damages. The high amount of rainfall caused several rivers to peak at record levels, in some cases exceeding records set during Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. The U.S. Geological...
Multi-Scale Graph Learning for anti-sparse downscaling
Yingda Fan, Runlong Yu, Janet R. Barclay, Alison P. Appling, Yiming Sun, Yiqun Xie, Xiaowei Jia
2025, Conference Paper, Proceedings of the AAAI conference on artificial intelligence
Water temperature can vary substantially even across short distances within the same sub-watershed. Accurate prediction of stream water temperature at fine spatial resolutions (i.e., fine scales, ≤ 1 km) enables precise interventions to maintain water quality and protect aquatic habitats. Although spatiotemporal models have made substantial progress in spatially coarse...
Nitrate loads and concentrations from forested watersheds and implications for Long Island Sound
Alana B. Spaetzel, James B. Shanley, Leslie A. DeSimone, John R. Mullaney
2025, JGR Biogeosciences (130)
Reduction in point sources of nitrogen has led to improvement in water quality of the Long Island Sound (LIS) since 2000, but changes in nonpoint sources are less clear. A significant yet poorly quantified nonpoint nitrogen source is the forested landscape. Because a large proportion of the LIS basin is...
Base-flow sampling to enhance understanding of the groundwater flow component of nitrogen loading in small watersheds draining into Long Island Sound
Kaitlin L. Laabs, Janet R. Barclay, John R. Mullaney
2025, Data Report 1206
Excessive nitrogen discharge is a major concern for the Long Island Sound. Programs have been implemented to reduce point sources of nitrogen to the sound, but little is known about the nonpoint sources. This study aims to better understand the current groundwater contributions of nitrogen from nonpoint sources in the...
Cancer risk and estimated lithium exposure in drinking groundwater in the US
Jiajun Luo, Liange Zheng, Zhihao Jin, Yuqing Yang, William I. Krakowka, Eric Hong, Melissa A. Lombard, Joseph D. Ayotte, Habibul Ahsan, Jayant M. Pinto, Briseis Aschebrook-Kilfoy
2025, JAMA Network Open (8)
Importance Lithium is a naturally occurring element in drinking water and is commonly used as a mood-stabilizing medication. Although clinical studies have reported associations between receiving lithium treatment and reduced cancer risk among patients with bipolar disorder, to our knowledge, the association between environmental lithium exposure and cancer risk has never...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2022
Kirk Smith, Alana B. Spaetzel
2025, Data Report 1205
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Providence Water (formerly the Providence Water Supply Board), collected streamflow and water-quality data in tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride...
Automating physics-based models to estimate thermoelectric-power water use
Melissa A. Harris, Timothy H. Diehl, Lillian E. Gorman Sanisaca, Amy E. Galanter, Melissa A. Lombard, Kenneth D. Skinner, Catherine A. Chamberlin, Brendan A. McCarthy, Richard G. Niswonger, Jana S. Stewart, Kristen J. Valseth
2025, Environmental Modelling and Software (185)
Thermoelectric (TE) power plants withdraw more water than any other sector of water use in the United States and consume water at rates that can be significant especially in water-stressed regions. Historical TE water-use data have been inconsistent, incomplete, or discrepant, resulting in an increased research focus on improving the...
Prioritizing US Geological Survey science on salinization and salinity in candidate and selected priority river basins
Christopher H. Conaway, Nancy T. Baker, Craig J. Brown, Christopher T. Green, Douglas B. Kent
2025, Enviornmental Monitoring and Assessment (197)
The US Geological Survey (USGS) is selecting and prioritizing basins, known as Integrated Water Science basins, for monitoring and intensive study. Previous efforts to aid in this selection process include a scientifically defensible and quantitative assessment of basins facing human-caused water resource challenges (Van Metre et al. in Environmental Monitoring...
Estimating domestic self-supplied water use in Rhode Island, 2014–21
Catherine A. Chamberlin, Ian P. Armstrong, Timothy J. Stagnitta
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5109
Water withdrawal from private groundwater wells is often unaccounted for in water planning studies, and water from private wells can be a source of exposure to environmental contaminants. The sizes of populations that depend on private wells for domestic water use and the amounts of water that are withdrawn from...
Evidence of nitrate attenuation in intertidal and subtidal groundwater in a subterranean estuary at a Cape Cod embayment, East Falmouth, Massachusetts, 2015–16
Thomas G. Huntington, Kevin D. Kroeger, Timothy D. McCobb, J.K. Bohlke, John A. Colman, Thomas W. Brooks, Beata Syzmczycha
2024, Scientific Investigations Report 2024-5100
Nitrogen dynamics in intertidal and nearshore subtidal groundwater (subterranean estuary) adjacent to the Seacoast Shores peninsula, Falmouth, Massachusetts, were investigated during 2015–16 by the U.S. Geological Survey. The peninsula is a densely populated residential area with septic systems and cesspools that are substantial sources of nitrogen to groundwater. The study...
Streamflow, water quality, and constituent loads and yields, Scituate Reservoir drainage area, Rhode Island, water year 2021
Kirk Smith, Alana B. Spaetzel
2024, Data Report 1203
As part of a long-term cooperative program to monitor water quality within the Scituate Reservoir drainage area, the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with Providence Water (formerly Providence Water Supply Board) collected streamflow and water-quality data in tributaries to the Scituate Reservoir, Rhode Island. Streamflow and concentrations of chloride and...
Predictions of groundwater PFAS occurrence at drinking water supply depths in the United States
Andrea K. Tokranov, Katherine Marie Ransom, Laura M. Bexfield, Bruce D. Lindsey, Elise Watson, Danielle Dupuy, Paul E. Stackelberg, Miranda S. Fram, Stefan Voss, James A. Kingsbury, Bryant Jurgens, Kelly Smalling, Paul M. Bradley
2024, Science (386) 748-755
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known colloquially as “forever chemicals”, have been associated with adverse human health effects and have contaminated drinking water supplies across the United States owing to their long-term and widespread use. People in the United States may unknowingly be drinking water that contains PFAS because of...
