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Between the 1950s and 1980s, wastewater generated at the Idaho National Laboratory contained Iodine-129 (129I); this wastewater was discharged directly into the eastern Snake River Plain (ESRP) aquifer through a deep disposal well, unlined infiltration ponds, or leaked from distribution systems below industrial facilities. During 2021–22, the U.S. Geological Survey,...

Great Salt Lake is a critical habitat for migratory birds that is threatened by elevated metal concentrations, including mercury (Hg) and lead (Pb), and is subject to severe hydrologic changes, such as declining lake level. When assessing metal profiles recorded in Great Salt Lake sediment, a large data gap exists...

A hydrologic model of the Silver Creek Basin in southwest Illinois, and a hydraulic model of a selected reach of Silver Creek and local tributaries on and near Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, were developed to assess the effects of temporal land-use development in the Silver Creek Basin, the potential...

The Russian River watershed is in northern Sonoma County and southern Mendocino County, California, in the northern part of the California Coast Ranges. The Russian River serves as a supply for agricultural irrigation and for municipal, domestic, and commercial uses. Through a cooperative agreement with the California State Water Resources...

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Upper Gunnison River Water Conservancy District, studied historical streamflow in a reach of the East River, Colorado, to gain a preliminary understanding of return flow dynamics. Return flow is agricultural irrigation water that is not consumed by evapotranspiration and instead reaches streams...

No abstract available....

In 2023, the U.S. Geological Survey developed a national inventory of water bottling facilities for the United States, including information about locations, water sources, water use, and a collection of other attributes. The purpose of the inventory was to provide information about water bottling facilities needed to assess and improve...

Geochemical and hydrologic models of pit lakes are commonly used in environmental regulatory decisions to predict future water quality and hydrologic conditions and to understand existing pit lakes. Models may be used to quantify sulfide oxidation, predict thermal/chemical stratification and mixing, and better understand connections between pit lakes and aquifers....

What is Citizen Science?Citizen science programs provide a means for Federal and non-Federal government agencies to make science more engaging, transparent, and accessible by partnering with the public for the purpose of problem solving, data collection, and monitoring. Public volunteers become directly involved in local research, thereby engaging in scientific...

Carbon fluxes in tidal brackish marshes play a critical role in determining coastal wetland carbon sequestration and storage, thus affecting carbon crediting of coastal wetland restoration. In this study, a process-driven wetland biogeochemistry model, Wetland Carbon Assessment Tool DeNitrification-DeComposition was applied to nine brackish marsh sites in Mississippi River (MR)...

The Little Sequatchie River and Pryor Cove Branch, in southern Tennessee, drain the eastern escarpment of the Cumberland Plateau to the Sequatchie River near the southern end of the Sequatchie Valley. The Little Sequatchie River is the largest tributary to the Sequatchie River by drainage area, covering over 120 square...

Soil moisture maps provide quantitative information that, along with climate and energy balance, is critical to integrate with hydrologic processes for characterizing landscape conditions. However, soil moisture maps are difficult to produce for natural landscapes because of vegetation cover and complex topography. Satellite-based L-band microwave sensors are...

Groundwater resources frequently trend toward unsustainable levels because, absent effective institutions, individual water users generally act independently without considering the impacts on other users. Hydro-economic models (HEMs) of human-natural systems can play a positive role toward successful groundwater management by yielding valuable knowledge and insight. The current study explores how...

Prairie streams of North America support native fishes that are adapted to the dynamic environment that characterizes these ecologically and economically important ecosystems. However, prairie streams have been altered by landscape changes that may affect the proportions of native and introduced species in fish communities. Herein, we investigate drivers of...

The water resources in the Mississippi alluvial plain, located in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas, supports a multibillion-dollar agricultural industry that relies heavily on pumping of groundwater for irrigation of crops and aquaculture. The primary source of groundwater for agricultural-related pumping is the Mississippi River Valley...

Hydrologic connectivity, the network of water pathways linking aquatic habitats, is vital for the exchange of organisms and abiotic materials between rivers and adjacent waterbodies. This study quantified hydrologic connectivity for 1,283 lakes in the Lower Mississippi River floodplain using satellite imagery, streamgauge data, and geospatial information. We aimed to...

Peak-flow (flood) frequency analysis is essential to water-resources management applications, including the design of critical infrastructure such as bridges and culverts, and floodplain mapping. Federal guidelines for performing peak-flow flood frequency analyses are presented in a U.S. Geological Survey Techniques and Methods Report known as Bulletin 17C. A basic assumption...

The production and uptake of toxic methylmercury (MeHg) impacts aquatic ecosystems globally. Rivers can be dynamic and difficult systems to study for MeHg production and bioaccumulation, hence identifying sources of MeHg to these systems is both challenging and important for resource management within rivers and main-stem reservoirs. Riparian zones, which...

Understanding the geomorphic processes and causes for long-term hydrogeomorphic changes along the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) is necessary for scientific studies ranging from habitat needs assessments, sediment transport, and nutrient processing, and making sound management decisions and prioritizing ecological restoration activities. From 2018 through 2020 the U.S. Geological Survey...

VegDischarge v1 is a comprehensive river discharge across Africa (2000–2021), produced by coupling the agro-hydrologic VegET model and the mizuRoute routing framework. Using remote sensing data and hydrological modeling, the 1-km runoff field simulated by VegET, and routed with mizuRoute, covers over 64,000 river segments in Africa. The VegET model...

Mangrove restoration efforts have increased in order to help combat their decline globally. While restoration efforts often focus on planting seedlings, underlying chronic issues, including disrupted hydrological regimes, can hinder restoration success. While improving hydrology may be more cost-effective and have higher success rates than planting seedlings alone, hydrological restoration...

Urbanization and climate change are exacerbating the flood risk and ecosystem degradation in urban catchments, with traditional stormwater management systems often overwhelmed. In this Review, we discuss changes in urban hydrology and approaches to stormwater management. Roughly 90% of rainfall on impervious surfaces and drainage infrastructure becomes run-off, enhancing rainfall...

Hydrologic models are the primary tools that are used to simulate streamflow drought and assess impacts. However, there is little consensus about how to evaluate the performance of these models, especially as hydrologic modeling moves toward larger spatial domains. This paper presents a comprehensive multi-objective approach to systematically evaluating the...

Hydrological streamline delineation is critical for effective environmental management, influencing agriculture sustainability, river dynamics, watershed planning, and more. This study develops a novel approach to combining transfer learning with convolutional neural networks that capitalize on image-based pre-trained models to improve the accuracy and transferability of streamline delineation. We evaluate the...

Most monitoring programs next to large per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sources focus on drinking water contamination near source zones. However, less is understood about how these sources affect downgradient hydrological systems and food webs. Here, we report paired PFAS measurements in water, sediment, and aquatic biota along a hydrological...