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Description Water is an integral part of how we interact with the environment and live our everyday lives. This educational poster illustrates where water is in forests, how it moves, and different ways water is used both naturally and through human interaction. This poster is intended for eighth-grade audiences and younger.
Description Water is an integral part of how we interact with the environment and live our everyday lives. This educational poster illustrates where water is in a desert environment, how it moves, and different ways water is used both naturally and through human interaction. This poster is intended for eighth-grade audiences and younger.
The geologic map of the Satan Butte and Greasewood 7.5’ quadrangles is the result of a cooperative effort of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the Navajo Nation to provide regional geologic information for management and planning officials. This map provides geologic information useful for range management, plant and animal studies, flood control, water resource investigations, and natural hazards associated with sand-dune mobility. The map provides connectivity to the regional geologic framework of the Grand Canyon area of northern Arizona. The map area encompasses approximately 314 km 2 (123 mi 2 ) within Navajo and Apache Counties of northern Arizona and is bounded by lat 35°37'30" to 35°30' N., long 109°45' to 110° W. The quadrangles lie within the southern Colorado Plateau geologic province and within the northeastern portion of the Hopi Buttes (Tsézhin Bií). Large ephemeral drainages, Pueblo Colorado Wash and Steamboat Wash, originate north of the map area on the Defiance Plateau and Balakai Mesa respectively. Elevations range from 1,930 m (6,330 ft) at the top of Satan Butte to about 1,787 m (5,860 ft) at Pueblo Colorado Wash where it exits the southwest corner of the Greasewood quadrangle. The only settlement within the map area is Greasewood, Arizona, on the north side of Pueblo Colorado Wash. Navajo Highway 15 crosses both quadrangles and joins State Highway 264 northwest of Ganado. Unimproved dirt roads provide access to remote parts of the Navajo Reservation.
This report contains hydrologic data collected in Pahvant Valley and adjacent areas from 1909 to 1987. The report area is mainly comprised of Pahvant Valley on the east and the southern part of the Sevier Desert on the west (plate 1). The area is in west-central Utah, within the Basin and Range physiographic province, and includes about 1,600 square miles. Most of the data in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights, from 1985 to 1987. Some of the earlier data were previously published by Enright and Holmes (1982), Meinzer (1911), Mower (1963 and 1967), and Mundorff (1970). The purpose of this report is to provide hydrologic data for use by the general public and by officials managing the area's water resources, and to supplement interpretive reports for the area. Tables 1 to 6 contain information about wells including well completions, drillers' logs, water levels, flowing-well discharges, and chemical quality. Spring and surfacewater site data are listed in tables 7 to 9. Hydrologic-data sites are shown on plate 1.
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This report contains hydrologic data collected in Cache Valley from 1969 to 1991. The report area is in north-central Utah and southeast Idaho, within the Basin and Range physiographic province described by Fenneman (1931), and includes about 660 square miles. Most of the data in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Divisions of Water Resources and Water Rights. Some of the data collected before 1969 were previously published by McGreevy and Bjorklund (1970). The purpose of this report is to provide hydrologic data for use by the general public and by officials managing the area's water resources, and to supplement interpretive reports for the area. Tables 1 to 7 contain selected well, spring, and surface-water data. The numbering systems used in this report for hydrologic-data sites are illustrated in figure 1. Hydrologic-data sites are shown on plate 1. These data could not have been collected without the cooperation of local residents and officials of irrigation companies and municipalities, that permitted access to their wells, springs, and canals to measure water levels in wells and flow in springs and canals. The Idaho Department of Water Resources also provided valuable assistance and data.
This report contains hydrologic data collected in southern Utah and Goshen Valleys from 1890 to 1992. Southern Utah and Goshen Valleys are south of Salt Lake City in Utah County, north-central Utah. The area is bounded on the east and south by the Wasatch Range, on the south by Long Ridge, on the west by the East Tintic Mountains and the Mosida Hills, and on the north by a line through about the middle of T. 7 S. Southern Utah Valley and Goshen Valley are divided by the northern tip of Long Ridge, West Mountain, and Utah Lake (Cordova, 1970). The area is in the Basin and Range physiographic province described by Fenneman (1931), and includes about 390 square miles. Most of the data in this report were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Utah Department of Natural Resources, Division of Water Rights. Some of the earlier data were published previously by Cordova (1969 and 1970). The purpose of this report is to provide hydrologic data for use by the general public and by officials managing the area's water resources, and to document data collected during a 4-year study of the ground-water resources in southern Utah and Goshen Valleys. Tables 1 to 8 contain selected ground- and surface-water data. Select data, including well depth and water level, is given for over 400 wells, and chemical analyses are given of samples from about 90 wells. The numbering system used in Utah for hydrologic-data sites is illustrated in figure 1. Hydrologic-data sites are shown on plate 1. These data could not have been collected without the cooperation of local residents and officials of irrigation companies and municipalities, who permitted access to their wells and property.
Heron Pond, located in extreme southern Illinois, lies immediately adjacent to the upper Cache River. The upper Cache River is encroaching on Heron Pond, which has raised the issue of the possibility of a failure of the Heron Pond wall, the area between Heron Pond and the upper Cache River. Hydraulic, geotechnical, geomorphic, and biologic data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources (IDNR/OWR) for use in designing a mitigation plan by the IDNR/OWR to prevent the failure of the Heron Pond wall. The river is sluggish during floods with velocities generally 1-2 feet per second. Biologic activity in the area have increased bank instability, which already is a problem because of saturated soils in the Heron Pond wall. In the area adjacent to the Heron Pond, the right descending bank of the upper Cache River receded 0.5 foot between September 21, 1995 and June 25, 1996. Comparisons between two surveys, 1958 and 1995, indicate that the channel near the discontinued USGS streamflow-gaging station near the Burlington Northern Railroad crossing has widened by more than 10 feet with less than 0.5 foot of incision.
Record flooding occurred on many streams in northern Ilinois during July 18-20, 1996. Over 16 inches of rain fell at some locations during and just prior to this period. Peak of record discharges were recorded at 19 U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow-gaging stations. The USGS, in cooperation with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Office of Water Resources (IDNROWR), has compiled the available hydrologic data from the July 1996 flood in northern Illinois, and the data are presented in this report.
A study of dewatering of the fractured-bedrock aquifer in a localized area of east-central North Carolina was conducted from March 2008 through February 2009 to gain an understanding of why some privately owned wells and monitoring wells were intermittently dry. Although the study itself was localized in nature, the resulting water-resources data and information produced from the study will help enable resource managers to make sound water-supply and water-use decisions in similar crystalline-rock aquifer setting in parts of the Piedmont and Blue Ridge Physiographic Provinces. In June 2005, homeowners in a subdivision of approximately 11 homes on lots approximately 1 to 2 acres in size in an unincorporated area of Wake County, North Carolina, reported extremely low water pressure and temporarily dry wells during a brief period. This area of the State, which is in the Piedmont Physiographic Province, is undergoing rapid growth and development. Similar well conditions were reported again in July 2007. In an effort to evaluate aquifer conditions in the area of intermittent water loss, a study was begun in March 2008 to measure and monitor water levels and groundwater use. During the study period from March 2008 through February 2009, regular dewatering of the fractured-bedrock aquifer was documented with water levels in many wells ranging between 100 and 200 feet below land surface. Prior to this period, water levels from the 1980s through the late 1990s were reported to range from 15 to 50 feet below land surface. The study area includes three community wells and more than 30 private wells within a 2,000-foot radius of the dewatered private wells. Although groundwater levels were low, recovery was observed during periods of heavy rainfall, most likely a result of decreased withdrawals owing to less demand for irrigation purposes. Similar areal patterns of low groundwater levels were delineated during nine water-level measurement periods from March 2008 through February 2009. Correlation of groundwater-level distribution patterns with orientations of geologic structures obtained from surficial mapping, borehole geophysical measurements, and interpretation of fracture traces suggests two dominant trends striking north-south and N. 65 degrees W. A variation in overall response to groundwater withdrawals was noted in the continuous groundwater-level records for the monitored observation wells and dewatered private wells. The largest overall declines during the study period were observed in an observation well in which the water-level declined as much as 247 feet from mid-July through early August 2008, during a period of heavy usage. A private well had a water-level decline of about 94 feet during the same monitoring period. The large declines recorded in the observation well and the private well indicated a substantial temporary loss of storage in the fractured-bedrock aquifer near the wells, thus reducing the amount of water available to shallow wells in the area (those wells with total depths of about 300 feet), and resulting in temporary well failures until such time as the aquifer recovered.
rom 2005 to 2007, the U.S. Geological Survey and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Division of Water Quality, conducted a study to describe the geologic framework, measure groundwater quality, characterize the groundwater-flow system, and describe the groundwater/surface-water interaction at the 60-acre Raleigh hydrogeologic research station (RHRS) located at the Neuse River Waste Water Treatment Plant in eastern Wake County, North Carolina. Previous studies have shown that the local groundwater quality of the surficial and bedrock aquifers at the RHRS had been affected by high levels of nutrients. Geologic, hydrologic, and water-quality data were collected from 3 coreholes, 12 wells, and 4 piezometers at 3 well clusters, as well as from 2 surface-water sites, 2 multiport piezometers, and 80 discrete locations in the streambed of the Neuse River. Data collected were used to evaluate the three primary zones of the Piedmont aquifer (regolith, transition zone, and fractured bedrock) and characterize the interaction of groundwater and surface water as a mechanism of nutrient transport to the Neuse River. A conceptual hydrogeologic cross section across the RHRS was constructed using new and existing data. Two previously unmapped north striking, nearly vertical diabase dikes intrude the granite beneath the site. Groundwater within the diabase dike appeared to be hydraulically isolated from the surrounding granite bedrock and regolith. A correlation exists between foliation and fracture orientation, with most fractures striking parallel to foliation. Flowmeter logging in two of the bedrock wells indicated that not all of the water-bearing fractures labeled as water bearing were hydraulically active, even when stressed by pumping. Groundwater levels measured in wells at the RHRS displayed climatic and seasonal trends, with elevated groundwater levels occurring during the late spring and declining to a low in the late fall. Vertical gradients in the groundwater discharge area near the Neuse River were complex and were affected by fluctuations in river stage, with the exception of a well completed in a diabase dike. Water-quality data from the wells and surface-water sites at the RHRS were collected continuously as well as during periodic sampling events. Surface-water samples collected from a tributary were most similar in chemical composition to groundwater found in the regolith and transition zone. Nitrate (measured as nitrite plus nitrate, as nitrogen) concentrations in the sampled wells and tributary ranged from about 5 to more than 120 milligrams per liter as nitrogen. Waterborne continuous resistivity profiling conducted on the Neuse River in the area of the RHRS measured areas of low apparent resistivity that likely represent groundwater contaminated by high concentrations of nitrate. These areas were located on either side of a diabase dike and at the outfall of two unnamed tributaries. The diabase dike preferentially directed the discharge of groundwater to the Neuse River and may isolate groundwater movement laterally. Discrete temperature measurements made within the pore water beneath the Neuse River revealed seeps of colder groundwater discharging into warmer surface water near a diabase dike. Water-quality samples collected from the pore water beneath the Neuse River indicated that nitrate was present at concentrations as high as 80 milligrams per liter as nitrogen on the RHRS side of the river. The highest concentrations of nitrate were located within pore water collected from an area near a diabase dike that was identified as a suspected seepage area. Hydraulic head was measured and pore water samples were collected from two 140-centimeter-deep (55.1-inch-deep) multiport piezometers that were installed in bed sediments on opposite sides of a diabase dike. The concentration of nitrate in pore water at a suspected seepage area ranged from 42 to 82 milligrams per liter as nitrogen with a median concentration of 79 milligrams per liter as nitrogen. On the opposite side of the dike, concentrations of nitrate in pore water samples ranged from 3 to 91 milligrams per liter as nitrogen with a median concentration of 52 milligrams per liter. At one of the multiport piezometers the vertical gradient of hydraulic head between the Neuse River and the groundwater was too small to measure. At the multiport piezometer located in the suspected seepage area, an upward gradient of about 0.1 was present and explains the occurrence of higher concentrations of nitrate near the sediment/water interface. Horizontal seepage flux from the surficial aquifer to the edge of the Neuse River was estimated for 2006. Along a 130-foot flow path, the estimated seepage flux ranged from –0.52 to 0.2 foot per day with a median of 0.09 foot per day. The estimated advective horizontal mass flux of nitrate along a 300-foot reach of the Neuse River ranged from –10.9 to 5 pounds per day with a median of 2.2 pounds per day. The total horizontal mass flux of nitrate from the surficial aquifer to the Neuse River along the 130-foot flow path was estimated to be about 750 pounds for all of 2006. Seepage meters were deployed on the bed of the Neuse River in the areas of the multiport piezometers on either side of the diabase dike to estimate rates of vertical groundwater discharge and flux of nitrate. The average estimated daily seepage flux differed by two orders of magnitude between seepage areas. The potential vertical flux of nitrate from groundwater to the Neuse River was estimated at an average of 2.5 grams per day near one of the multiport piezometers and an average of 784 grams per day at the other. These approximations suggest that under some hydrologic conditions there is the potential for substantial quantities of nitrate to discharge from the groundwater to the Neuse River.
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 the risk of dam breaches associated with aging or inadequate infrastructure. This report documents and provides results of one- and two-dimensional hydraulic models developed for selected rivers and streams in the northeastern United States where a dam was removed or a culvert was retrofitted. The models were developed for conditions before and after the dam removal or culvert modification. The discharges applied in the models included monthly discharges and flood discharges for the annual exceedance probabilities of 50, 20, 10, 4, 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.2 percent. This study, by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, demonstrates the benefits resulting from dam removal and retrofitting undersized culverts in terms of decreased water-surface elevations during flooding and improved fish passage. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hydrologic Engineering Center’s River Analysis System was used to model the sites in one- and two-dimensional hydraulics, and decreases in the 1-percent annual exceedance probability discharge water-surface elevation were found at all sites studied. The decreases in water-surface elevation at sites in which the impoundment was removed ranged from 1.3 to 10.4 feet. One site, Bradford Dam in Westerly, Rhode Island, had only a 0.2-foot decrease, but at that site the dam was replaced by a series of weirs to retain the upstream impoundment and allow fish passage. Minimal differences were found between the water-surface elevations computed by the one- and two-dimensional models. The two-dimensional models, however, provide the additional benefit of detailed velocity and depth data throughout the channel at a resolution not possible with a one-dimensional model. These velocity and depth data allowed for assessment of the suitability for fish passage at the sites. Fish passage was improved at all the sites by removing the dams and retrofitting the culvert. Prolonged swim velocity criteria for selected fish species were maintained throughout three of the nine study sites, and burst swim velocity criteria were met at all study sites.
Introduction During April through September 2022, much of New England experienced a short but extreme hydrologic drought that was similar to the drought of 2020. By August 2022, Providence, Rhode Island, was declared a Federal disaster area, and New London and Windham counties in Connecticut were declared natural disaster areas. Mandatory water use restrictions were put in place in communities in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island (Mecray and Borisoff, 2022). Precipitation in many areas of New England fell below normal levels in November 2021 and continued to decline until September 2022, contributing to low streamflows and groundwater levels in the region. U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) streamflow and groundwater conditions from April to September 2022 were used to characterize the hydrologic component of this short-duration drought. Several record low streamflows and groundwater levels were observed across New England, even falling below 2020 levels in parts of southern New England. The severity of this drought varied across New England, and regional and statewide perspectives are presented in this report. Highlights May through August in 2022 ranked as the driest for those 4 months in 138 years of record at Boston, Massachusetts, with only 5.74 inches of rain (average of 13.26 inches). Water levels at 95 USGS groundwater monitoring wells across New England were below normal in August; 16 of these wells recorded their lowest August water level in 25 years. Flows at 54 USGS streamgages across New England were below normal in August, and 10 of those streamgages recorded their lowest August flows in 30 years. Two USGS streamgages in Massachusetts (stations 01105600 and 01171500 with 56 and 83 years of record, respectively) had record 7-day average low flows on August 21, 2022, and August 22, 2022, respectively.
The Neversink Watershed Study was initiated in 1991 to develop an understanding of the key natural processes that control water quality within the forested, 166 km 2 (64 mi 2 ), Neversink River watershed; part of the New York City drinking water supply system, in the Catskill Mountain region of New York. The study entailed (1) hydrological investigations of water movement from the atmosphere to streams, (2) biogeochemical investigations of nitrogen and calcium, important nutrients in forest and aquatic ecosystems whose availability has been altered by acidic deposition, (3) an investigation of elevational patterns in atmospheric deposition, and (4) fisheries investigations to determine the relative importance of physical habitat and acidic deposition in controlling the abundance and diversity of fish species in the watershed. This report summarizes the results of these investigations, which have also been presented, in detail, in peer-reviewed technical articles and reports that are cited throughout the text.
The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, conducted a study to characterize the occurrence and distribution of viral contamination in small (withdrawing less than 10,000 gallons per day) public water-supply wells screened in the water-table aquifer in the Coastal Plain in Worcester and Wicomico Counties, Maryland. Two hundred seventy-eight well sites were evaluated with regard to simulated ground-water flow paths, land use, natural soils groups, and well characteristics, such as well depth and well age. Flow and transport simulations of the water-table aquifer indicated that wells screened less than about 50 feet below land surface (shallow wells) were most vulnerable to surface contamination, which in some cases could originate from as far as 2,000 feet upgradient of the well. Animal-feeding and agricultural-storage operations were considered among the most likely sources for viral contamination; therefore, sites close to these activities were considered most vulnerable. Soil groups were evaluated with regard to depth to water and moisture-holding capacity. Wells with shallow depths to water or in very sandy soils were considered more vulnerable to contamination than deep wells (greater than 50 feet) and those completed in finer-grained soils. Older wells and wells where coliform bacteria had been detected in the past were classified as highly vulnerable. On the basis of this evaluation, 27 sites considered to be susceptible were sampled. Samples were collected by pumping up to 400 gallons of untreated well water through an electropositive filter. Water concentrates were subjected to cell-culture assay for the detection of culturable viruses and reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction/gene probe assays to detect nonculturable viruses; grab samples were analyzed for somatic and male-specific coliphages, Bacteroides fragilis, Clostridium perfringens, enterococci, Escherichia coli, total coliforms, total oxidized nitrogen, dissolved organic carbon, organic nitrogen, total phosphate, orthophosphate, acid-neutralizing capacity, pH, specific conductance, temperature, and dissolved oxygen. Eleven percent of the samples analyzed (3 of 27) tested positive for either culturable viruses or the presence of viral ribonucleic acid. Approximately 15 percent of the samples (4 of 27) tested positive for one or more bacterial contaminants.
Pumpage from the Upper Floridan aquifer in northwest Hillsborough County near Tampa, Florida, has induced downward leakage from the overlying surficial aquifer and lowered the water table in many areas. Leakage is highest where the confining layer separating the aquifers is breached, which is common beneath many of the lakes in the study area. Leakage of water to the Upper Floridan aquifer has lowered the water level in many lakes and drained many wetlands. Ground water from the Upper Floridan aquifer has been added (augmented) to some lakes in an effort to maintain lake levels, but the resulting lake-water chemistry and lake leakage patterns are substantially different from those of natural lakes. Changes in lake-water chemistry can cause changes in lake flora, fauna, and lake sediment composition, and large volumes of lake leakage are suspected to enhance the formation of sinkholes near the shoreline of augmented lakes. The leakage rate of lake water through the surficial aquifer to the Upper Floridan aquifer was estimated in this study using ground-water-flow models developed for an augmented lake (Round Lake) and non-augmented lake (Halfmoon Lake). Flow models developed with MODFLOW were calibrated through nonlinear regression with UCODE to measured water levels and monthly net ground-water-flow rates from the lakes estimated from lake-water budgets. Monthly estimates of ground-water recharge were computed using an unsaturated flow model (LEACHM) that simulated daily changes in storage of water in the soil profile, thus estimating recharge as drainage to the water table. Aquifer properties in the Round Lake model were estimated through transient-state simulations using two sets of monthly recharge rates computed during July 1996 to February 1999, which spanned both average conditions (July 1996 through October 1997), and an El Niño event (November 1997 through September 1998) when the recharge rate doubled. Aquifer properties in the Halfmoon Lake model were estimated through steady-state simulations of average conditions in July 1996. Simulated hydrographs computed by the Round and Halfmoon Lake models closely matched measured water-level fluctuations, except during El Niño, when the Halfmoon Lake model was unable to accurately reproduce water levels. Possibly, potential recharge during El Niño was diverted through ground-water-flow outlets that were not represented in the Halfmoon Lake model, or a large part of the rainfall was diverted into runoff before it could become recharge. Solute transport simulations with MT3D indicate that leakage of lake water extended 250 to 400 feet into the surficial aquifer around Round Lake, and from 75 to 150 feet around Halfmoon Lake before flowing to the underlying Upper Floridan aquifer. These results are in agreement with concentrations of stable isotopes of oxygen-18 (d18O) and deuterium (dD) in the surficial aquifer. Schedules of monthly augmentation rates to maintain constant stages in Round and Halfmoon Lakes were computed using an equation that accounted for changes in the Upper Floridan aquifer head and the deviation from the mean recharge rate. Resulting lake stages were nearly constant during the first half of the study, but increased above target lake stages during El Niño; modifying the computation of augmentation rates to account for the higher recharge rate during El Niño resulted in lake stages that were closer to the target lake stage. Substantially more lake leakage flows to the Upper Floridan aquifer from Round Lake than from Halfmoon Lake, because the estimated vertical hydraulic conductivities of lake and confining layer sediments and breaches in the confining layer beneath Round Lake are much greater. Augmentation rates required to maintain the low guidance stages in Round Lake (53 feet) and Halfmoon Lake (42 feet) under average Upper Floridan aquifer heads are estimated as 33,850 cubic feet per day and 1,330 to 10,000 cubic feet per day, respectively. These rates equate to 26 inches per month of water applied to the entire surface of Round Lake and 0.34 to 2.5 inches per month of water applied to Halfmoon Lake.
Geographic information systems have become an important tool in planning for the protection and development of natural resources, including ground water and surface water. A digital spatial data base consisting of 18 data layers that can be accessed by a geographic information system was developed for Broward County, Florida. Five computer programs, including one that can be used to create documentation files for each data layer and four that can be used to create data layers from data files not already in geographic information system format, were also developed. Four types of data layers have been developed. Data layers for manmade features include major roads, municipal boundaries, the public land-survey section grid, land use, and underground storage tank facilities. The data layer for topographic features consists of surveyed point land-surface elevations. Data layers for hydrologic features include surface-water and rainfall data-collection stations, surface-water bodies, water-control district boundaries, and water-management basins. Data layers for hydrogeologic features include soil associations, transmissivity polygons, hydrogeologic unit depths, and a finite-difference model grid for south-central Broward County. Each data layer is documented as to the extent of the features, number of features, scale, data sources, and a description of the attribute tables where applicable.
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