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This report gives an overview of U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois District, Water Resources Division activities related to the water resources of the State of Illinois. The report includes sections describing District organization, programs, water conditions, data collection activities, and project summaries. Also included is a complete listing of District and Illinois-related USGS publications.
This report gives an overview of U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois District, Water Resources Division activities related to the water resources of the State of Illinois. The report includes sections describing District organization, programs, water conditions, data collection activities, and project summaries. Also included is a complete listing of District and Illinois-related USGS publications.
The mission of the Water Resources Division is to provide the hydrologic information and understanding needed for the optimum utilization and management of the Nation 's water resources for the overall benefit of the people of the United States. Several of the most relevant and visible studies being conducted by the California District deal with selenium toxicity in the western San Joaquin Valley; groundwater export from the Owens Valley, coupled with vegetation survivability studies; hydrodynamics variability in San Francisco Bay; reclaimed water use; seawater intrusion in the Santa Barbara area; and involvement in the water-quality standard/water-rights hearing for the San Francisco Bay/Delta. Thirty-nine project summaries are provided. Water Resources Division basic mission and program, California District organization and funding, and 1987 water conditions are also summarized. (Lantz-PTT)
This report gives an overview of U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois District, Water Resources Division activities related to the water resources of the State of Illinois. The report includes sections describing District organization, programs, water conditions, data collection activities, and project summaries. Also included is a complete listing of District and Illinois-related USGS publications.
This report gives an overview of U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois District, Water Resources Division activities related to the water resources of the State of Illinois. The report includes sections describing District organization, programs, water conditions, data collection activities, and project summaries. Also included is a complete listing of District and Illinois-related USGS publications.
This report gives an overview of U.S. Geological Survey, Illinois District, Water Resources Division activities related to the water resources of the State of Illinois. The report includes sections describing District organization, programs, water conditions, data collection activities, and project summaries. Also included is a complete listing of District and Illinois-related USGS publications.
Project Summary: The following digital product represents the Acid Deposition Sensitivity of the Southern Appalachian Assessment Area. Areas having various susceptibilities to acid deposition from air pollution are designated on a three tier ranking in the region of the Southern Appalachian Assessment (SAA). The assessment is being conducted by Federal agencies that are members of the Southern Appalachian Man and Biosphere (SAMAB) Cooperative. Sensitivities to acid deposition, ranked high, medium, and low are assigned on the basis of bedrock compositions and their associated soils, and their capacities to neutralize acid precipitation.
Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data collected through this cooperative effort, known as the Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, during October 2013 through September 2014 (water year 2014) and October 2014 through September 2015 (water year 2015). Major findings for this period include: More than 5,500 individual measurements of water quality were made at a total of 15 sites—4 in the Neuse River Basin and 11 in the Cape Fear River Basin. Thirty water-quality properties or constituents were measured; State water-quality thresholds exist for 11 of these. All observations met State water-quality thresholds for temperature, hardness, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and nitrate plus nitrite. North Carolina water-quality thresholds were exceeded one or more times for dissolved oxygen, dissolved-oxygen percent saturation, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll a .
Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data collected through this cooperative effort, known as the Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, from October 2017 through September 2018 (water year 2018) and from October 2018 through September 2019 (water year 2019). Major findings for this period include the following: More than 7,500 individual measurements of water quality were made at 20 sites—7 in the Neuse River Basin and 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin. For the lake sites, only measurements from the photic zone and 1 meter below the water surface are documented in this report. Thirty-six water-quality properties or constituents are presented in this report; the State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds are presented for 11 of these. All observations met the State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds for water temperature, hardness, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and nitrate plus nitrite. The State of North Carolina water-quality thresholds were exceeded one or more times for dissolved oxygen, dissolved-oxygen percent saturation, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll a .
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Executive Summary Climate change is causing a range of changes that can affect the natural, cultural, and built resources of the Nation’s protected areas and affect opportunities to visit and recreate in these spaces. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns also affect species and habitats, leading to ecological transformation. This report describes findings from pilot research conducted in Capitol Reef National Park, Utah (hereinafter referred to as “Capitol Reef” or “the Park”) as part of a larger interagency study of how National Park Service (NPS) staff are considering management of transforming ecosystems. Semi-structured interviews were used to assess how Capitol Reef employees (n=9) understand the challenge of ecological transformation, including their perceptions of how climate change is affecting the Park’s natural and cultural resources, the multiple timeframes over which employees respond to climate change impacts, and their awareness and understanding of ecological transformation and the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework, which was developed to address ecological transformation, that is, ecosystems changing in response to changes in climate conditions (Schuurman and others, 2020, 2022). The interviews also solicited employee perceptions about constraints and enabling factors that allow Capitol Reef to effectively respond to ecological transformation. The report uses a conceptual framework that has been used by the National Park Service Climate Change Response Program (Clifford and others, 2022) to structure the reporting of the data about constraints and enabling factors, with sections describing the role of factors internal to an individual employee (culture, worldviews, and understanding of an ecological system) and contextual factors external to an individual (institutional context, social feasibility and scientific uncertainty as influenced by available scientific information). Participating Capitol Reef staff perceived the most pressing climate impacts in the Park as increasing air temperatures, aridity, and flash floods, which are impacting natural and cultural resources, public safety, and infrastructure. Staff mostly agreed on what the future landscape (approximately 50 years into the future) may look like at Capitol Reef in terms of changes in vegetation and future temperature and precipitation conditions. However, staff had more divergent views or were uncertain about how specific species will adapt to future conditions (for example, how endemic plants might shift their ranges) and are grappling with which management strategies to take at which times. Staff also had differing opinions about how much data is needed to prompt action. Interviewees agreed that leadership in the Park had made climate change a priority and created a climate-attuned culture among staff. Participating employees described the park culture at Capitol Reef as collaborative, with frequent communication and work across divisions, which, as an example, shapes responses to flash floods and other events (for example, working across divisions on search and rescue, or repairing fencing that is washed out by storms). This collaborative, climate-attuned culture may help Capitol Reef in future problem-solving as it grapples with how to respond to climate change and ecological transformation in the Park.
Surface-water supplies are important sources of drinking water for residents in the Triangle area of North Carolina, which is located within the upper Cape Fear and Neuse River Basins. Since 1988, the U.S. Geological Survey and a consortium of local governments have tracked water-quality conditions and trends in several of the area’s water-supply lakes and streams. This report summarizes data collected through this cooperative effort, known as the Triangle Area Water Supply Monitoring Project, during October 2015 through September 2016 (water year 2016) and October 2016 through September 2017 (water year 2017). Major findings for this period include the following: More than 5,000 individual measurements of water quality were made at a total of 20 sites—7 in the Neuse River Basin and 13 in the Cape Fear River Basin. Only the measurements from the photic zone and 1 meter below the water surface are documented in this report. Twenty-nine water-quality properties or constituents are presented in this report; State water-quality thresholds exist for 11 of these. All observations met State water-quality thresholds for hardness, chloride, fluoride, sulfate, and nitrate plus nitrite. North Carolina water-quality thresholds were exceeded one or more times for dissolved oxygen, dissolved-oxygen percent saturation, pH, water temperature, turbidity, and chlorophyll a .
On the arid Mountain Home Plateau of Idaho more than 400,000 acres of arable land is largely unused except for grazing. The Boise Valley, adjoining on the north, was reclaimed from similar land and irrigated with Boise River water. The productivity of about 100,000 acres of the valley land is lowered or threatened, however, by an ever-rising water table, caused to rise by infiltration of excess irrigation water. Surface drains alleviate the drainage problem but areas of water-logging, alkaline land, and inferior vegetation continue to spread.
The report is a reference source on hydrologic information related to coal-mining activities in the Warrior and Plateau coal fields of Alabama. It contains a bibliography of more than 200 references and selected annotations. Also included is information on maps, automated-data bases, water-monitoring programs, and data-source agencies and organizations.
The report contains summaries of projects and activities in the Tennessee District of the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior, from 1992-1994. Each summary includes the location, the objective of the project, the progress of the study to date, and the names of the cooperators and the project chiefs.
The report contains summaries of projects and activities in the Tennessee District of the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of the Interior,from 1995-96. Each summary includes the location, the objective of the project, the progress of the study to date, and the names of the cooperators and the project chiefs.
This report provides actionable guidance for scientists developing scientific tools that inform on-the-ground decision making. Scientific tools, in the context of this report, are technology or protocols that help practitioners collect and analyze their own data, and information products and web tools that practitioners could use to inform decisions. Engaging end-users and fellow experts is fundamental to the creation of useful scientific tools. Scientists can use clear and specific direction on action steps and activities to effectively engage with end-users and fellow experts during development. Our study explores lessons learned from six U.S. Geological Survey projects that designed and implemented engagement activities with end-users and experts to coproduce scientific tools for natural resource managers. U.S. Geological Survey teams engaged end-users and experts across the United States from Federal, State, and local governments; universities; Tribes; territories; and nongovernmental organizations in designing and developing scientific tools intended to support end-users in their work. An online survey with 98 participants measured satisfaction across several indicators of successful engagement, including engagement activity frequency, sufficient opportunities to provide feedback, feedback implementation, inclusion of necessary perspectives, and functionality of the tool for end-users. Semistructured interviews were held with project leads, during which the project leads reviewed a summary of the survey results. The project leads reflected on the engagement efforts used in their project, then described lessons learned from the engagement experience and participant feedback. Common themes for ensuring effective engagement identified through thematic analysis included engaging end-users during product conceptualization; establishing clear roles and expectations; considering who end-users are and how end-users may use the tool; recruiting participants through your network, boundary spanners, and leadership; understanding individual use cases; communicating how feedback was integrated into the product; and strategically using virtual meeting tools. This guide shares practical steps and exercises for planning and facilitating effective engagement based on lessons learned from project leads and case study summaries of each project.