USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: February 1, 2016

Featured Product: Implications of projected climate change for groundwater recharge in the western United States

Figure 1. Conceptual illustration of four different recharge mechanisms under 20th century climate (a) and future climate (b). Refer to Meixner and others, 2016, for details.

The consequences of climate change have been identified as major issues facing the availability of groundwater resources in the United States. Groundwater is among the Nation's most important natural resources. It provides half our drinking water and is essential to the vitality of agriculture and industry, as well as to the health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. We need to understand how climate change can affect our groundwater resources so that water resource managers and policy makers can make informed decisions.

A recent study co-authored by USGS scientists analyzed the potential impact of climate change on groundwater recharge across the western United States. Eight representative aquifers located across the region were evaluated. Several key patterns emerge from the analysis:

First, the available estimates indicate average declines of 10-20 percent in total recharge across the southern aquifers, but with a wide range of uncertainty that includes no change.

Second, the northern set of aquifers will likely incur little change to slight increases in total recharge.

Third, mountain system recharge is expected to decline across much of the region due to decreased snowpack, with that impact lessening with higher elevation and latitude.

To learn more, download and read this open access journal article for free.

USGS Groundwater-Related Press Releases

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 January 2016. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

Mesilla Basin Microgravity Survey to Measure Aquifer Changes

Visualize Your Water: A Citizen Science Challenge for High School Students

Decreasing Streamflows in Southwest Kansas Likely Caused by Groundwater Withdrawals

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Water quality and hydrology of Silver Lake, Oceana County, Michigan, with emphasis on lake response to nutrient loading, 2012-14

Potentiometric surfaces of the Arnold Engineering Development Complex area, Arnold Air Force Base, Tennessee, May and September 2011

The Lassen hydrothermal system

Will it rise or will it fall? Managing the complex effects of urbanization on base flow

Functional metagenomic selection of RubisCOs from uncultivated bacteria

Interannual to multidecadal climate forcings on groundwater resources of the U.S. West Coast

Delineation of the Pahute Mesa-Oasis Valley groundwater basin, Nevada

A plan for study of hexavalent chromium, CR(VI) in groundwater near a mapped plume, Hinkley, California, 2016

Summary of U.S. Geological Survey studies conducted in cooperation with the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, central Oklahoma, 2011-14

Hydrologic conditions in the South Coast aquifer, Puerto Rico, 2010-15

Hydrogeological framework, numerical simulation of groundwater flow, and effects of projected water use and drought for the Beaver-North Canadian River alluvial aquifer, northwestern Oklahoma

Determination of pesticides and pesticide degradates in filtered water by direct aqueous-injection liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Identifying long term empirical relationships between storm characteristics and episodic groundwater recharge

A fractured rock geophysical toolbox method selection tool

Imaging pathways in fractured rock using three-dimensional electrical resistivity tomography

Streamflow characteristics and trends at selected streamgages in southwest and south-central Kansas

Using noble gas tracers to constrain a groundwater flow model with recharge elevations: A novel approach for mountainous terrain

Insights into controls on hexavalent chromium in groundwater provided by environmental tracers, Sacramento Valley, California, USA

Progress on water data integration and distribution: a summary of select U.S. Geological Survey data systems

 

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

Fractured Rock Geophysical Toolbox Method Selection Tool v1.00

 

USGS Groundwater Site 380758115204601. Credit: USGS/Hartley Delvalle. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.

Field Photo:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat..." doesn't just apply to the U.S. Postal Service! USGS scientists conduct field work year-round in all sorts of conditions. This photo of a USGS groundwater observation well in Nevada was taken on January 26, 2016, by USGS HydroTech Hartley Delvalle. At nearly 800 feet to water, the Coal Valley well is one of the deeper wells where USGS publishes groundwater levels. USGS hydrologic technicians or scientists visit the site to measure depth to groundwater about every six weeks, year round. All tapedowns are made with a 1000-foot calibrated e-tape that is checked against a NIST-certified steel tape every year. Learn more:

View the data from this well

View groundwater-level statistics for this well

Learn more about USGS water-resources information for Nevada

Watch a video about how USGS measures the depth to the water surface below land surface using the electric tape method