New & Noteworthy

Fact Sheet: Water Quality Studied in Areas of Unconventional Oil and Gas Development, Including Areas Where Hydraulic Fracturing Techniques are Used

  Video: Shale Gas, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Induced Earthquakes

  USGS Groundwater Data Go to Times Square

  TWRI-B3 Chapter 2: Introduction to Ground-Water Hydaulics [12MB PDF], now with internal document links added

  Groundwater-Level Response to Virginia 2011 Earthquake

  Groundwater Technical Procedures of the USGS

USGS Groundwater Watch

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

USGS in Your State

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Other USGS Water Science Areas

 Water Resources

 Water Quality

 Water Use

 Surface Water

Groundwater Techniques, Methods, and Models

• Techniques & Methods Publications
• Computer Modeling & Software
• Geophysics
• Land Subsidence
• Data Collection
• Recharge
• Water Use
• Water Quality
• Additional Water-Resources Techniques & Methods Information

Techniques & Methods Publications

USGS Techniques and Methods Reports (TM)

USGS Techniques and Methods (TM) reports describe procedures and standard methods for planning and executing studies and laboratory analyses. They are written for scientists. To find TM reports you can:

• Groundwater Technical Procedures of the U.S. Geological Survey (Techniques and Methods Report 1-A1)
• Browse all USGS Techniques and Methods Reports
• View the historic water-resources USGS Techniques and Methods Reports (TM) page (no longer updated)

USGS Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations (TWRI)

USGS Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations (TWRI) reports are written for scientists and describe approved water-resources scientific and data-collection procedures and standard methods. This report series is no longer published; new water-resources techniques publications are published as part of the Techniques and Methods series (above).

Groundwater Technical Memoranda

Groundwater Technical Memoranda address USGS policy related to technical aspects of USGS groundwater studies and data collection.

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Computer Modeling & Software

Building on decades of experience, the USGS continues to lead in the development and application of computer software to simulate groundwater flow and transport and to address scientific and management questions of increasing complexity. (For more information, see USGS Fact Sheet 2009-3105)

USGS Groundwater Software

USGS groundwater software and supporting materials are in the public domain and can be downloaded from the USGS groundwater software page.

USGS Groundwater Software Recently Released or Updated 

• Model Viewer 1.5
• GW_Chart 1.23.6.0
• ModelMuse 2.14.0.0
• MODFLOW-GUI 4.34.1.0
• Utility PIEs 1.8.0.0
• GWM-2005 1.4.0
• PART 2.0
• RORA 2.0

Selected USGS Groundwater Software & Related Publications

• Summary of selected computer programs produced by the U.S. Geological Survey for simulation of ground-water flow and quality - 1994 (Circular 1104). See also: Updates to USGS Circular 1104
• Guidelines for evaluating ground-water flow models (SIR2004-5038)
• System and boundary conceptualization in ground-water flow simulation (TWRI Book 3, Chapter B8)
• USGS Groundwater Modeling Software: Making Sense of a Complex Natural Resource
• MODFLOW
  • MODFLOW-2005 software and user guides
  • MODFLOW-2000 software and user guides
  • MODFLOW-2005 with the Farm Process
  • List of USGS reports related to MODFLOW
• SEAWAT: A computer program for simulation of three-dimensional variable-density ground-water flow
• GSFLOW: Coupled Ground-water and Surface-water FLOW model based on PRMS and MODFLOW-2005
• CFP: Conduit Flow Process for MODFLOW-2005
• PHAST: Simulating Groundwater Flow, Solute Transport, and Multicomponent Geochemical Reactions

Other Water Resources & Groundwater Software

• All USGS water-resources applications software
  • USGS water-resources geochemical software
  • USGS water-resources statistics software
• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)
  • USEPA Center for Subsurface Modeling Support: groundwater and vadose zone models
  • USEPA Center for Exposure Assessment Modeling (CEAM)
  • USEPA Ecosystems Research Modeling Subsurface Petroleum Hydrocarbon Transport
• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Groundwater Modeling System (GMS)
• U.S. Department of Agriculture Salinity Laboratory Models

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Geophysics

• Office of Groundwater geophysical technology transfer

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Land Subsidence

• Overview of links to USGS land subsidence information
• CIMDAS - Center for InSAR Monitoring of Deforming Aquifer Systems

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Data Collection

• National Water-Quality Assessment Program groundwater data-collection protocols and procedures:
  • Selection, installation, and documentation of wells, and collection of related data (OFR 95-398)
  • Collection and documentation of water-quality samples and related data (OFR 95-399)

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Recharge

• Methods for estimating groundwater recharge in humid regions
• Darcian method of estimating recharge

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Water Use

• Handbook for collecting water-use data

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Water Quality

• Water-quality methods & techniques
  • National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (TWRI Book 9)
• Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
  • Field and laboratory methods
  • Computer models for the simulation of contaminant transport and fate

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Additional Water-Resources Techniques & Methods Information

For additional USGS resources, see the links at Water-Resources Techniques, Methods, and Modeling.

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