Northern High Plains Ground-Water Quality Data Base
(ASCII version)

The text files in this directory contain tab delimited ASCII files, one for each primary table in the northern High Plains ground-water quality data base, each lookup table, and each standard results file. The first line of each file contains column names. The primary files (SAMPLES, QW_RESULTS, and PARAMETERS) can be imported into relational data base software, so that the files may be linked together as indicated below. The tables prefixed with ‘tbl’ are lookup tables that contain the meanings of some of the codes used in the data base. The 10 tables prefixed with ‘NHP’ represent some standard result tables from the data base for the major constituent groups.  The basic content of the tables is as follows:


SAMPLES.txt: This table contains information about each sample and from which well network it was collected. It is linked to the QW_RESULTS table using the siteID, DATES, TIMES, and MEDIM fields.

QW_RESULTS.txt: This is the primary and largest table in the data base. It contains each result or measurement made at a well site. It is linked to the SAMPLES table using the siteID, DATES, TIMES, and MEDIM fields, and it is linked to the PARAMETERS table using the Ppcode.

PARAMETERS.txt: Information defining each result or measurement made at a well. The PARAMETERS table is linked to the QW_RESULTS table using the Ppcode.

The lookup tables are:

tblMediumCodes.txt: Meaning of the codes for the field MEDIM in the SAMPLES and QW_RESULTS tables.

tblRemarkCodes.txt: Meaning of the value remark codes used in the QW_RESULTS table.

tblSampleTypeCodes.txt: Meaning of the codes for the SampleType field used in the SAMPLES table.

The result files for constituent groups are:

NHPFieldMeasurements.txt:  Table of field properties (pH, dissolved oxygen, specific conductance, etc) for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPMajorIons.txt: Table of major ion results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPColiphage.txt: Table of coliphage results for samples from the Eastern Nebraska and Sand Hills hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPNutrients.txt: Table of nutrient results (nitrogen and phosphorus compounds) for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPPesticides.txt: Table of pesticide results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPRadon.txt: Table of radon results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPTraceElements.txt: Table of trace element results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHPTritium.txt: Table of tritium results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHP_DOC.txt: Table of dissolved organic carbon results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NHP_VOCs.txt: Table of volatile organic compound results for samples from all hydrogeologic units in the data base, including quality-control samples.

NOTE: If the above result files are going to be imported into Excel, the SiteID field should be specified as a text field to avoid the SiteID being represented as scientific notation.