Model estimated baseflow for streams with endangered Atlantic Salmon in Maine, USA
Pamela J. Lombard, Robert W. Dudley, Matthias J. Collins, Rory Saunders, Ernie Atkinson
2021, River Research and Applications (37) 1254-1264
We present a regression model for estimating mean August baseflow per square kilometer of drainage area to help resource managers assess relative amounts of baseflow in Maine streams with Atlantic Salmon habitat. The model was derived from mean August baseflows computed at 31 USGS streamflow gages in Maine. We use...
Event scale relationships of DOC and TDN fluxes in throughfall and stemflow diverge from stream exports in a forested catchment
Kevin A. Ryan, Thomas Adler, Ann T. Chalmers, Julia Perdrial, James B. Shanley, Aron Stubbins
2021, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences (126)
Aquatic fluxes of carbon and nutrients link terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Within forests, storm events drive both the delivery of carbon and nitrogen to the forest floor and the export of these solutes from the land via streams. To increase understanding of the relationships between hydrologic event character and the...
Hydraulic modeling at selected dam-removal and culvert-retrofit sites in the northeastern United States
Scott A. Olson, Caelan E. Simeone
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5056
Aquatic connectivity projects, such as removing dams and modifying culverts, have substantial benefits. The restoration of natural flow conditions improves water quality, sediment transport, aquatic and riparian habitat, and fish passage. These projects can also decrease hazards faced by communities by lowering water-surface elevations of flood waters and by removing...
Approaches for assessing long-term annual yields of highway and urban runoff in selected areas of California with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Paul J. Friesz
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5043
The California Department of Transportation, commonly known as CalTrans, and other municipal separate storm sewer system permittees in California as well as other State departments of transportation nationwide need information about potential loads and yields (loads per unit area) of constituents of concern in stormwater runoff and discharges from stormwater...
Use of dissolved oxygen monitoring to evaluate phosphorus loading in Connecticut streams, 2015–18
Brittney Izbicki, Jonathan Morrison
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2021-5024
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (CT DEEP) has developed an interim phosphorus reduction strategy to establish water-quality-based phosphorus limits in nontidal freshwaters for industrial and municipal water pollution control facilities. A recommendation in the strategy included the addition of diurnal dissolved oxygen (DO) sampling to the sampling...
Exploring the factors controlling the error characteristics of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission discharge estimates
Renato Frasson, Michael T. Durand, Kevin Lanier, Colin Gleason, Konstantinos Andreadis, Mark Hageman, Robert W. Dudley, David M. Bjerklie, Hind Oubanas, Pierre-André Garambois, Pierre-Olivier Malaterre, Peirong Lin, Tamlin M. Pavelsky, Jerome Monnier, Craig Binkerhoff, Cedric H. David
2021, Water Resources Research (57)
The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite mission will measure river width, water surface elevation, and slope for rivers wider than 50-100 m. SWOT observations will enable estimation of river discharge by using simple flow laws such as the Manning-Strickler equation, complementing in-situ streamgages. Several discharge inversion algorithms...
Associations between private well water and community water supply arsenic concentrations in the conterminous United States
Maya Spaur, Melissa Lombard, Joseph D. Ayotte, David Harvey, Benjamin Bostick, Steven Chillrud, Ana Navas-Acien, Anne E Nigra
2021, Science of the Total Environment (787)
Geogenic arsenic contamination typically occurs in groundwater as opposed to surface water supplies. Groundwater is a major source for many community water systems (CWSs) in the United States (US). Although the US Environmental Protection Agency sets the maximum contaminant level (MCL enforceable since 2006:...
Machine-learning predictions of high arsenic and high manganese at drinking water depths of the glacial aquifer system, northern continental United States
Melinda L. Erickson, Sarah M. Elliott, Craig J. Brown, Paul Stackelberg, Katherine Marie Ransom, James E. Reddy, Charles A. Cravotta III
2021, Environmental Science & Technology (9) 5791-5805
Globally, over 200 million people are chronically exposed to arsenic (As) and/or manganese (Mn) from drinking water. We used machine-learning (ML) boosted regression tree (BRT) models to predict high As (>10 μg/L) and Mn (>300 μg/L) in groundwater from the glacial...
Evaluation and application of the Purge Analyzer Tool (PAT) to determine in-well flow and purge criteria for sampling monitoring wells at the Stringfellow Superfund site in Jurupa Valley, California, in 2017
Philip T. Harte, Tomas Perina, Kent Becher, Herb Levine, Daewon Rojas-Mickelson, Lesley Walther, Anthony A. Brown
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5140
The U.S. Geological Survey and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are developing analytical tools to assess the representativeness of groundwater samples from fractured-rock aquifers. As part of this effort, monitoring wells from the Stringfellow Superfund site in Jurupa Valley in Riverside County, California, approximately 50 miles east of Los Angeles, were...
Assessment of water quality and discharge in the Herring River, Wellfleet, Massachusetts, November 2015 to September 2017
Thomas G. Huntington, Alana B. Spaetzel, John A. Colman, Kevin D. Kroeger, Robert T. Bradley
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5120
The U.S. Geological Survey, Cape Cod National Seashore of the National Park Service, and Friends of Herring River cooperated from 2015 to 2017 to assess nutrient concentrations and fluxes across the ocean-estuary boundary at a dike on the Herring River in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. The purpose of this assessment was to...
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in New Hampshire soils and biosolids
Andrea K. Tokranov, Kate Emma A. Schlosser, Jeffrey M. Marts, Anthony F. Drouin, Leah M. Santangelo, Sydney M. Welch
2021, General Information Product 208
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, is undertaking a study on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in soils and biosolids. The study will characterize PFAS concentrations in shallow soil and selected biosolids throughout the State of New Hampshire, conduct laboratory experiments to...
Machine learning models of arsenic in private wells throughout the conterminous United States as a tool for exposure assessment in human health studies
Melissa Lombard, Molly Scannell Bryan, Daniel Jones, Catherine Bulka, Paul M. Bradley, Lorraine C. Backer, Michael J. Focazio, Debra T. Silverman, Patricia Toccalino, Maria Argos, Matthew O. Gribble, Joseph D. Ayotte
2021, Environmental Science and Technology (55) 5012-5023
Arsenic from geologic sources is widespread in groundwater within the United States (U.S.). In several areas, groundwater arsenic concentrations exceed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency maximum contaminant level of 10 μg per liter (μg/L). However, this standard applies only to public-supply...
Simulation of dissolved organic carbon flux in the Penobscot Watershed, Maine
Shabnam Rouhani, Crystal B. Schaaf, Thomas G. Huntington, Janet Choate
2021, Ecohydrology & Hydrobiology (21) 256-270
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is an important component of the carbon cycle as a measure of the hydrological transport of carbon between terrestrial carbon pools into soil pools and eventually into streams. As a result, changes in DOC in rivers and streams may indicate alterations in the storage of terrestrial...
Isolating the AFFF signature in coastal watersheds using oxidizable PFAS precursors and unexplained organofluorine
Bridger J. Ruyle, Heidi M. Pickard, Denis R. LeBlanc, Andrea K. Tokranov, Colin P. Thackray, Xindi C. Hu, Chad D. Vecitis, Elsie M. Sunderland
2021, Environmental Science & Technology (55) 3686-3695
Water supplies for millions of U.S. individuals exceed maximum contaminant levels for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Contemporary and legacy use of aqueous film forming foams (AFFF) is a major contamination source. However, diverse PFAS sources are present within watersheds, making...
Practical field survey operations for flood insurance rate maps
Nicholas J. Taylor, Caelan E. Simeone
2021, Open-File Report 2020-1146
The U.S. Geological Survey assists the Federal Emergency Management Agency in its mission to identify flood hazards and zones for risk premiums for communities nationwide, by creating flood insurance rate maps through updating hydraulic models that use river geometry data. The data collected consist of elevations of river channels, banks,...
An increase in the slope of the concentration-discharge relation for total organic carbon in major rivers in New England, 1973 to 2019
Thomas G. Huntington, Michael Wieczorek
2021, Science of the Total Environment (778)
The mobilization and transport of organic carbon (OC) in rivers and delivery to the near-coastal ocean are important processes in the carbon cycle that are affected by both climate and anthropogenic activities. Riverine OC transport can affect carbon sequestration,...
Re‐purposing groundwater flow models for age assessments: Important characteristics
Paul F. Juckem, J. Jeffrey Starn
2021, Groundwater (59) 710-727
Groundwater flow model construction is often time‐consuming and costly, with development ideally focused on a specific purpose, such as quantifying well capture from water bodies or providing flow fields for simulating advective transport. As environmental challenges evolve, the incentive to re‐purpose existing groundwater flow models may...
Export of photolabile and photoprimable dissolved organic carbon from the Connecticut River
B. Yoon, Jacob D. Hosen, Ethan Kyzivat, Jennifer H Fair, Lisa C. Weber, Kelly S. Aho, Rachel Lowenthal, Serena Matt, W. V. Sobczak, James B. Shanley, Jonathan Morrison, James E. Saiers, Aron Stubbins, Peter A. Raymond
2021, Aquatic Sciences (83)
Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) impacts water quality, the carbon cycle, and the ecology of aquatic systems. Understanding what controls DOC is therefore critical for improving large-scale models and best management practices for aquatic ecosystems. The two main processes of DOC transformation and removal, photochemical and microbial DOC degradation, work in...
Assessing the impact of drought on arsenic exposure from private domestic wells in the conterminous United States
Melissa Lombard, Johnni Daniel, Zuha Jeddy, Lauren Hay, Joseph D. Ayotte
2021, Environmental Science & Technology (55) 1822-1831
This study assesses the potential impact of drought on arsenic exposure from private domestic wells by using a previously developed statistical model that predicts the probability of elevated arsenic concentrations (>10 μg per liter) in water from domestic wells located in the conterminous United States (CONUS). The application of the...
Statistical methods for simulating structural stormwater runoff best management practices (BMPs) with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM)
Gregory E. Granato, Alana B. Spaetzel, Laura Medalie
2021, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5136
This report documents statistics for simulating structural stormwater runoff best management practices (BMPs) with the Stochastic Empirical Loading and Dilution Model (SELDM). The U.S. Geological Survey developed SELDM and the statistics documented in this report in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration to indicate the risk for stormwater flows, concentrations,...
Source switching maintains dissolved organic matter chemostasis across discharge levels in a large temperate river network
J.D. Hosen, K.S. Aho, Jennifer Burlingame Hoyle Fair, E.D. Kyzivat, S. Matt, Jonathan Morrison, A. Stubbins, L.C. Weber, B. Yoon, P.A. Raymond
2021, Ecosystems (24) 227-247
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) helps regulate aquatic ecosystem structure and function. In small streams, DOM concentrations are controlled by transport of terrestrial materials to waterways, and are thus highly variable. As rivers become larger, the River Continuum Concept hypothesizes that internal primary production is an increasingly...
2020 drought in New England
Pamela J. Lombard, Janet R. Barclay, Dee-Ann E. McCarthy
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1148
Below average and infrequent rainfall from May through September 2020 led to an extreme hydrologic drought across much of New England, with some areas experiencing a flash drought, reflecting its quick onset. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recorded record-low streamflow and groundwater levels throughout the region. In September, the U.S....
Simulation of groundwater flow in the regional aquifer system on Long Island, New York, for pumping and recharge conditions in 2005–15
Donald A. Walter, John P. Masterson, Jason S. Finkelstein, Jack Monti, Jr., Paul E. Misut, Michael N. Fienen
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5091
A three-dimensional groundwater-flow model was developed for the aquifer system of Long Island, New York, to evaluate (1) responses of the hydrologic system to changes in natural and anthropogenic hydraulic stresses, (2) the subsurface distribution of groundwater age, and (3) the regional-scale distribution of groundwater travel times and the source...
Considerations for incorporating quality control into water quality sampling strategies for the U.S. Geological Survey
Laura Medalie
2020, Open-File Report 2020-1109
This report describes considerations for incorporating routine quality-assessment and quality-control evaluations into U.S. Geological Survey discrete water-sampling programs and projects. U.S. Geological Survey water-data science in 2020 is characterized by robustness, external reproducibility, collaborative large-volume data analysis, and efficient delivery of water-quality data. Confidence in data, or robustness, can be...
Quality of data from the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network for water years 2013–17
Laura Medalie, Laura M. Bexfield
2020, Scientific Investigations Report 2020-5116
Water samples from 122 sites in the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Network were collected in 2013–17 to document ambient water-quality conditions in surface water of the United States and to determine status and trends of loads and concentrations for nutrients, contaminants, and sediment to estuaries and streams. Quality-control...