USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: November 1, 2015

Featured Product: Water Quality Data Portal

The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is a cooperative service sponsored by USGS, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council that integrates publicly available water-quality data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) database and the EPA STOrage and RETrieval (STORET) data warehouse. The WQP makes it easy to download USGS and (or) EPA groundwater-quality states from sites around the country using a web form or web services.

For information about how to access other USGS water-quality data, see our list of USGS national water-quality databases and web applications.

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

Animation of Groundwater Watch Active Water Level Network, 30 days

The USGS Active Groundwater Level Network includes about 20,000 wells that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 13 months. The animation shows a daily snapshot of water-level statistics in the network for October 2015. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

Uncovering the Mighty Mississippi's Natural Potential for Nitrogen Removal

Scientists Able to Track Contaminated Water from Lower Yakima Valley Wells to Sources

New Model Improves Predictions for How Climate Change Will Affect Fish Habitat

It's a Bird! It's a Plane! No, it's SCIENCE! Aquifer Mapping Project Begins This Week

USGS Scientists Discuss Climate, Drought and Resource Management at Colorado Plateau Conference

During Recent Droughts: Central Valley Groundwater Levels Reached Historical Lows and Land Subsidence Intensified

Wichita's Primary Water Supply Source Recovering Due to City's Efforts

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Concentration comparison of selected constituents between groundwater samples collected within the Missouri River alluvial aquifer using purge and pump and grab-sampling methods, near the city of Independence, Missouri, 2013

Chesapeake Bay Impact Structure: A Blast from the Past

Groundwater chemistry in the vicinity of the Puna Geothermal Venture Power Plant, Hawai'i, after two decades of production

Particle tracking for selected groundwater wells in the lower Yakima River Basin, Washington

Water-level data for the Albuquerque Basin and adjacent areas, central New Mexico, period of record through September 30, 2014

Geologic and geophysical maps of the El Casco 7.5' quadrangle, Riverside County, southern California, with accompanying geologic-map database

Temporal geochemical variations in above- and below-drainage coal mine discharge

Initial characterization of the groundwater system near the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project, Imperial Valley, California

Simulation of daily streamflow for nine river basins in eastern Iowa using the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System

Relating subsurface temperature changes to microbial activity at a crude oil-contaminated site

Accuracy testing of steel and electric groundwater-level measuring tapes: Test method and in-service tape accuracy

Identifying trout refuges in the Indian and Hudson Rivers in northern New York through airborne thermal infrared remote sensing

Installation of a groundwater monitoring-well network on the east side of the Uncompahgre River in the Lower Gunnison River Basin, Colorado, 2014

Water availability and subsidence in California's Central Valley

Status and trends of adult Lost River (Deltistes luxatus) and shortnose (Chasmistes brevirostris) sucker populations in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, 2014

Documentation of a restart option for the U.S. Geological Survey coupled Groundwater and Surface-Water Flow (GSFLOW) model

Groundwater recharge assessment at local and episodic scale in a soil mantled perched karst aquifer in southern Italy

Groundwater-level and storage-volume changes in the Equus Beds aquifer near Wichita, Kansas, predevelopment through January 2015

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

Photo Credit: USGS/Shelley Niesen. The photo is in the public domain.

Field Photo:

Did you know that USGS conducts groundwater-quality studies around the Nation? These studies help us better understand local groundwater quality conditions that could affect water availability and use and human health and the environment.

In this photo, a student technician from the USGS Missouri Water Science Center is observing water-quality properties at a groundwater sampling well near Independence, Missouri, in August 2013. The work was part of a USGS study comparing two types of water-quality sampling methods to determine any differences in results from the two methods. Understanding the differences in the accuracy and precision of different water-quality sampling techniques, as well as the labor, time, and costs involved, enables scientists to make informed decisions about the best methods and tools to use for a particular study. To learn more about the investigation, see the report that came out this month: Concentration comparison of selected constituents between groundwater samples collected within the Missouri River alluvial aquifer using purge and pump and grab-sampling methods, near the city of Independence, Missouri, 2013

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.