USGS Groundwater Watch

USGS maintains a network of active wells to provide basic statistics about groundwater levels.

New & Noteworthy

 Report to Congress: Progress Toward Establishing a National Assessment of Water Availability and Use

 March 10-16: National Groundwater Awareness Week

 Fact Sheet: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

  Annotated List of Classic Pre-1980 USGS Groundwater Papers on Quantitative Groundwater-Flow Analysis

  WaterNow: Get current water conditions by text or email

 Groundwater's Greater Role in Waterways Demonstrated in Virginia

  Circular: Streamflow Depletion By Wells: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

 MODPATH v6 released

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USGS Recognizes "National Groundwater Awareness Week"
March 10-16, 2013

Tweet with us!

Join us for a live Twitter chat about groundwater with USGS scientists.

Date: Wednesday March 13, 2013
Time: 3:00 to 3:30PM Eastern
Where: Twitter. Follow @USGSLive and use #AskUSGS

Learn more about the chat.

The U.S. Geological Survey joins our partners in the groundwater community in
recognizing March 10-16, 2013, as National Groundwater Awareness Week
because groundwater awareness is important to you!

Why is groundwater important?

Groundwater is one of the Nation's most valuable natural resources. It occurs almost everywhere beneath the Earth's surface and is a major source of water supply worldwide. It is the Nation's principal reserve of freshwater and represents much of the potential future water supply. Groundwater is a major contributor to flow in many streams and rivers and has a strong influence on river and wetland habitats for plants and animals. (Source: USGS Circular 1186: Sustainability of ground-water resources, USGS Circular 1323: Ground-Water Availability in the United States)

Sources:
1 - USGS Circular 1186: Sustainability of ground-water resources (p. 7)
2 - USGS Circular 1344: Estimated Water Use in the U.S. in 2005 (p.43)
3 - " (pp.16-17)

Today, many concerns about the Nation's groundwater resources involve questions about their future sustainability. The sustainability of groundwater resources is a function of many factors, including depletion of groundwater storage, reductions in streamflow, potential loss of wetland and riparian ecosystems, land subsidence, saltwater intrusion, and changes in groundwater quality. Each groundwater system and development situation is unique and requires an analysis adjusted to the nature of the existing water issues.

USGS and Groundwater

The USGS provides unbiased, timely, and relevant scientific information and understanding about groundwater resources of the Nation. USGS groundwater data and information provide resource managers and policy makers with essential information needed for management of this limited resource.

We:

• Identify, describe, and make available fundamental information regarding groundwater availability and quality in the Nation's major aquifer systems over time.
• Characterize natural and human factors controlling quality, recharge, storage, and discharge in the Nation's major aquifer systems, and improve understanding of these processes.
• Develop and test new tools and field methods for the analysis of groundwater systems and the interactions these systems have with surface water.

What kind of groundwater activities does the USGS do?

The USGS conducts groundwater activities in every state and in the US territories. Recent activities around the Nation include:

USGS New England Water Science Center - Massachusetts staff analyze groundwater samples at the USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program research site at Massachusetts Military Reservation.

Improved our understanding of how pumping groundwater wells can affect streams.
This information can be used by scientists and water resource managers to estimate the rate, locations, and timing of streamflow depletion in response to groundwater pumping. Learn more in the new factsheet.

Added spring data to our popular Groundwater Watch.
The Active Springs Monitoring Sites web pages provide data from more than 100 springs in the USGS active measurement program.

Produced a national assessment and on-line interactive maps of groundwater-quality trends,
showing how contaminant concentrations have changed over the last twenty years. View the maps and learn more.

Created the first the first comprehensive groundwater flow model for the entire Yakima River in Washington.
Tribal, State, and Local agencies use the model estimates to inform their management of water resources and to protect streamflows for sockeye salmon and other critical aquatic species. A detailed report about the study is online.

Documented for the first time the occurrence of groundwater that is more than a million years old in a major water-supply aquifer along the Atlantic Coast.
USGS findings revealed that modern pumping in southern Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay and on the Eastern Shore is tapping groundwater resources that have accumulated in the aquifer over multiple cycles of climate change and are not quickly recharging. A detailed journal article explains the USGS research.

Continued Development of a Collaborative National Groundwater Monitoring Network.
Through the Advisory Committee on Water Information Subcommittee on Ground Water, and in partnership with other federal agencies, state agencies, and non-governmental organizations, the USGS continued development of a collaborative National Groundwater Monitoring Network.

Collaborated with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to create a new online portal that includes both USGS and EPA water-quality data.
Stakeholders can access over 150 million water-quality records at the Water Quality Portal (WQP).

Stay Connected

You can stay connected with the latest USGS information and products in many ways:

• Get Data:
  • Get on-demand, current-conditions for water data directly to your mobile phone or email.
  • Get alerts to your email or mobile phone messages when certain groundwater data parameters are met
• Get the latest USGS news
  • Get USGS news releases for your region or topics of interest to you.
  • Connect with us via social media

The water cycle. (Source: USGS Open File Report 2012-1066)