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The U.S. Geological Survey publishes information on the mass, or load, of water-quality constituents transported through rivers and streams sampled as part of the operation of the National Water Quality Network (NWQN). This study evaluates methods for computing annual water-quality loads, specifically with respect to procedures currently (2019) used at...

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Nashville District, is conducting ongoing water-supply analyses of USACE reservoirs in the Cumberland River watershed to identify areas where potential water-resources issues may arise in the future. To assist the USACE in their efforts, the U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the USACE,...

The magnitude of annual exceedance probability floods is greatly affected by the coefficient of skewness (skew) of the annual peak flows at a streamgage. Standard flood frequency methods recommend weighting the station skew with a regional skew to better represent regional and stable conditions. This study presents an updated analysis...

The Paradox Valley in southwestern Colorado is a collapsed anticline formed by movement of the salt-rich Paradox Formation at the core of the anticline. The salinity of the Dolores River, a tributary of the Colorado River, increases substantially as it crosses the valley because of discharge of brine-rich groundwater derived...

Identification of the groundwater resources used for drinking-water supplies is essential for the design of strategies to manage those resources. In this study, the spatial extent, depths, thicknesses, and volumes of groundwater aquifers used for domestic and public drinking-water supply were estimated from locations and well-construction data from 11,725 domestic-supply...

Categorical classification of groundwater age is often used for the assessment and understanding of groundwater resources. This report presents a tritium-based age classification system for the conterminous United States based on tritium (3H) thresholds that vary in space and time: modern (recharged in 1953 or later), if the measured value...

The Wyoming Landscape Conservation Initiative is a program created to implement a long-term, science-based program of assessing natural resources while facilitating responsible energy and other development and does studies in much of southwestern Wyoming, including all or parts of Lincoln, Sublette, Fremont, Sweetwater, and Carbon Counties. A synoptic study was...

Sedimentation in a channel can reduce flood conveyance capability and potentially place nearby property and life at risk from flooding. In 1998, Marin County Public Works dredged the concrete-lined segment of Corte Madera Creek, which drains a hilly and largely urbanized watershed that terminates in San Francisco Bay, California. From...

Mineralization and historical mining of stibnite (antimony sulfide), tungsten, gold, silver, and mercury in the headwaters of the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River (EFSFSR) near the former town of Stibnite in central Idaho resulted in water-quality impairments related to mercury, antimony, and arsenic. Additionally, mining-related disturbances and...

Hyperalkaline (pH greater than 12) ponds and groundwater exist at Big Marsh near Lake Calumet, Chicago, Illinois, a site used by the steel industry during the mid-1900s to deposit steel- and iron-making waste, in particular, slag. The hyperalkaline ponds may pose a hazard to human health and the environment. The...

Daily mean discharges are needed for rivers in New Hampshire for the management of instream flows. It is impractical, however, to continuously gage all streams in New Hampshire, and at many sites where information is needed, the discharge data required do not exist. For such sites, techniques for estimating discharge...

In 2018, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Bandera County River Authority and Groundwater District and the Texas Water Development Board, studied floods through the period of record to create a library of flood-inundation maps for the Medina River at Bandera, Texas. Digital flood-inundation maps for a...

Conversion of agricultural lands to wetlands and native prairie is widely viewed as beneficial because it can restore natural ecological and hydrologic functions. Some of these functions, such as reduced peak flows and improved water quality, are often attributed to restoration; however, such benefits have not been quantified at a...

Streamflow, nutrient, and sediment concentration data needed to estimate long-term mean daily streamflow and annual constituent loads were compiled from Federal, State, Tribal, and regional agencies, universities, and nongovernmental organizations. The streamflow and loads are used to develop Spatially Referenced Regressions on Watershed Attributes (SPARROW) models. SPARROW models help describe...

The city of Wichita’s water supply currently (2019) comes from two primary sources: Cheney Reservoir and the Equus Beds aquifer. The Equus Beds aquifer storage and recovery project was developed to help the city of Wichita meet increasing future water demands. Source water for artificial recharge comes from the Little...

Groundwater resources in the Spanish Valley watershed in southern Utah were quantified for the first time since the early 1970s. The primary objectives of this study were (1) to better understand sources of recharge to, groundwater flow directions within, and discharge points for both the valley-fill and Glen Canyon Group...

Digital flood-inundation maps for a 6.7-mile reach of Joachim Creek, De Soto, Missouri, were created by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the city of De Soto and Jefferson County, Missouri. The flood-inundation maps, which can be accessed through the USGS Flood Inundation Mapping Program website at <a...

Demand for freshwater on the Island of Maui is expected to increase by 45 percent between 2015 and 2035. Groundwater availability on Maui is affected by changes in climate and agricultural irrigation. To evaluate the availability of fresh groundwater under projected future climate conditions and changing agricultural irrigation practices, estimates...

In June 2016, approximately 64 kilometers (km) of riverbank were examined along the Tar and Neuse Rivers near Tarboro and Kinston, North Carolina, for evidence of liquefaction-forming earthquakes. The study area is in the vicinity of the Grainger’s fault zone in eastern North Carolina. The Grainger’s fault zone is a...

The Big Chino subbasin is located in central-northwest Arizona in the transition zone between the Colorado Plateau and the Basin and Range Province. The controlled source audio-frequency magnetotelluric (CSAMT) geophysical method, a low-impact, non-intrusive, electrical resistance sounding technique, was used to evaluate the subsurface hydrogeology of the southern third...

In this study potential wetland extents were estimated for 12 river reaches covering about 750 river miles in Indiana and parts of Illinois and Ohio. The study was completed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service. This study follows and...

Executive SummaryBackground.—Pesticide results from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) are used for water-quality assessments by many agencies and organizations. The USGS is committed to providing data of the highest possible quality to the consumers of its data. A cooperator’s inquiries about specific pesticide detections in...

Accurate forecasts of the streamflow expected during late spring and summer in the Upper Klamath River Basin in southern-central Oregon and northern California are used by water management agencies to balance water allocations for agriculture, aquatic habitat, and hydropower-production needs. Streamflow forecasts are also used by irrigation farmers for...

Since their designation in the 1980s, Areas of Concern (AOCs) around the Great Lakes have been the focus of multi-State and international cleanup efforts that were needed after decades of human activity resulted in severely contaminated sediment, water-quality degradation, loss of habitat for aquatic organisms, and impaired public use. Although...

This report documents a Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model that was developed for an area covering the Blue Ridge, Piedmont, and Mesozoic basin fractured-rock aquifers in Fauquier County, Virginia, for the calendar years 1996–2015. The SWB model includes an area of 1,498 square miles, divided into 1,076-square-foot (100-square-meter) grid cells on which...