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Ground-Water Resources Program

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 [Photo: Ground water flowing out of well.]

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USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

 [Map: There is a USGS Water Science Center office in each State.] Washington Oregon California Idaho Nevada Montana Wyoming Utah Colorado Arizona New Mexico North Dakota South Dakota Nebraska Kansas Oklahoma Texas Minnesota Iowa Missouri Arkansas Louisiana Wisconsin Illinois Mississippi Michigan Indiana Ohio Kentucky Tennessee Alabama Pennsylvania West Virginia Georgia Florida Caribbean Alaska Hawaii New York Vermont New Hampshire Maine Massachusetts South Carolina North Carolina Rhode Island Virginia Connecticut New Jersey Maryland-Delaware-D.C.

Regional Ground-Water Evaluations

Ground-Water Availability of Selected Principal Aquifers

During the past 50 years, depletion of ground water has spread from small, isolated pockets to large areas of the country, as ground-water use has intensified. The consequences of large-scale removal of water from storage are becoming increasingly evident. These consequences include land subsidence; loss of springs, streams, wetlands, and associated habitat; and degradation of water quality. These documented results in combination with recent droughts have emphasized the need for updated status on the availability of the Nation's ground-water resources. Assessing the current state of the ground-water flow systems in the highest stressed systems would be invaluable tools for assessing ground-water availability under present conditions.

To that end, three principal aquifers geographically distributed across the United States were selected for study in 2004: Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifers in North and South Carolina, Denver Basin aquifer in Colorado, and the Central Valley aquifer in California. In fiscal year 2006, a study of the Mississippi Embayment aquifers in parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee began. Information about these aquifers is critically needed to support better management of ground-water resources in these areas with chronic water-supply issues. The GWRP is taking advantage of the quantitative work previously conducted by the RASA Program to provide updated quantitative assessments of ground-water availability in areas of critical importance. These assessments will document the effects of human activities on water levels, ground-water storage, and discharge to streams and other surface-water bodies, and evaluate the adequacy of data networks to assess impacts at a regional scale.

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Page Last Modified: Friday, 01-Aug-2008 12:15:27 EDT