Cooperative Water Program
The Cooperative Water Program monitors and assesses water in every State, protectorate, and territory of the U.S. in partnership with nearly 1,600 local, State, and Tribal agencies. <read more>
Features
Kansas reservoirs losing significant amounts of water storage capacity because of sedimentation (Press release; Newspaper article; UGSS Report).
Nitrogen, phosphorus and some pesticides increasing in urbanizing areas downstream of Oklahoma City (Press release; USGS report; Fact Sheet)
River water use has reduced Albuquerque's reliance on groundwater and USGS data show the aquifer is recharging and water levels are rising in response. (Article in Albuquerque Journal, December 25, 2011)
Water from public and private wells in Lee and Chatham counties, North Carolina is being tested for baseline information because of potential for shale gas exploration in these areas (Press release; Study Area Map; More detail)
Streamflow statistics and basin characteristics associated with USGS data-collection stations and for ungaged sites are available for 26 States through StreamStats.
New Products
Our Mission
"The Mission of the USGS Cooperative Water Program is to provide reliable, impartial, and timely information needed to understand the Nation's water resources through a program of shared efforts and funding with State, Tribal, and local partners to enable decision makers to wisely manage the Nation's water resources."
Informing Stakeholders
Washington State Department of Ecology uses USGS models to quantify the effects of groundwater pumping on streams and to define “groundwater reserve” areas for accommodating new permit-exempt wells in basins that are closed to additional surface-water rights (Press release; USGS report)
The City of Newport News in Virginia is reassessing “safe yields” from Chickahominy River water-supply intakes based on CWP findings on changing salinity due to sea level rise. (USGS report)
Wake County managers in North Carolina use USGS groundwater information collected in fractured-bedrock to manage dewatering, water use, and water supplies. (USGS Report)
State of Mississippi uses CWP irrigation-conservation models for decisions on irrigation use and conservation management in the Mississippi Delta. (USGS report)
Beginning with a CWP project in Austin, Texas, continued USGS assessments led to new regulations by the State of Washington on the use of coal-tar sealcoat on parking lots, driveways, and other pavement—a major source of toxic PAHs to aquatic life. (Journal article; USGS Fact Sheet)
The Spartanburg, South Carolina Regional Water System uses CWP research to minimize harmful algal blooms in their public supplies. (USGS report)
City of Wichita, Kansas uses real-time surrogate estimates of water quality and other USGS research to manage drinking-water supplies from Cheney Reservoir and to manage artificial recharge in the Equus beds aquifer. (USGS reports; City of Wichita Equus Beds Aquifer Storage and Recovery Project)
The Alaska Department of Transportation closed Copper River Highway based on CWP long-term streambed and bridge scour assessments. (Story)
Pumping was believed to be the largest contributor to hundreds of feet of groundwater level decline near Mosier, Oregon, but a cooperative project with the Mosier Watershed Council and the Wasco Soil and Water Conservation District identified leakage between aquifers through well boreholes as the likely dominant cause of large declines over the past 35 years. (USGS study)
Stakeholders Speak:
Roundtable in the Colorado River Basin, Feb. 8-9, 2012
Summaries of Cooperator Roundtables
- Pacific Northwest
- Florida
- Mid-Atlantic Region
- Ohio River Basin
- Upper Missouri River Basin
- Upper Mississippi River Basin
- Southeast
- California
- New England
- National Stakeholder Meeting in Washington D.C.
