USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: October 01, 2017

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Featured Product: Annual estimates of recharge, quick-flow runoff, and ET for the contiguous U.S.

[ Map: Annual average effective recharge ]

Annual average effective recharge values for the 2000-2013 time period. This total value reflects the total water available to recharge the groundwater table and supply discharge into streams as baseflow. Source: Reitz and others, Figure 7B.

A new USGS study presents new data-driven, annual estimates of the division of precipitation into the recharge, quick-flow runoff, and evapotranspiration (ET) water budget components for 2000-2013 for the contiguous United States (CONUS). Comparisons of recharge estimates with groundwater extraction data show that in 15% of the country, groundwater is being extracted at rates higher than the local recharge. These maps are expected to provide reliable first-order estimates of these hydrologic parameters, even where field measurements are sparse. Download the journal article to learn more.

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 September 2017. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

Levels of Possible Human Carcinogen Declining in Most Wells in Tucson International Airport Superfund Site (09/27/17)

Groundwater Modeling Software MODFLOW 6 Now Available (09/26/17)

USGS to Conduct Dye Tracer and Aerial Mapping Surveys on Kootenai River (09/18/17)

Borehole Geophysical Logs Now Easily Accessible through new USGS Online Map (09/13/17)

USGS Seeks National Ground-Water Monitoring Network Proposals for 2018 (09/08/17)

Groundwater Pumping, Precipitation Can Affect Lake Levels in Twin Cities (09/06/17)

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Evaluation of bias associated with capture maps derived from nonlinear groundwater flow models (09/28/17)

Hydrogeology and simulated groundwater flow and availability in the North Fork Red River aquifer, southwest Oklahoma, 1980-2013 (09/28/17)

Groundwater quality in the Yuba River and Bear River Watersheds, Sierra Nevada, California (09/28/17)

Using models to identify the best data: An example from northern Wisconsin (09/25/17)

Annual estimates of recharge, quick-flow runoff, and ET for the contiguous U.S. using empirical regression equations (09/21/17)

Water-level trends and potentiometric surfaces in the Nacatoch Aquifer in northeastern and southwestern Arkansas and in the Tokio Aquifer in southwestern Arkansas, 2014-15 (09/20/17)

Results of hydrologic monitoring of a landslide-prone hillslope in Portland's West Hills, Oregon, 2006-2017 (09/20/17)

Documentation of a daily mean stream temperature module -- An enhancement to the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (09/18/17)

Holistic assessment of occurrence and fate of metolachlor within environmental compartments of agricultural watersheds (09/20/17)

Atoll groundwater movement and its response to climatic and sea-level fluctuations (09/13/17)

The role of alluvial aquifer sediments in attenuating a dissolved arsenic plume (09/08/17)

Climate variability and vadose zone controls on damping of transient recharge (09/05/17)

Effects of an extreme flood on trace elements in river water -- From urban stream to major river basin (09/25/17)

Simulation and assessment of groundwater flow and groundwater and surface-water exchanges in lakes of the northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 2003 through 2013: Chapter B of Water levels and groundwater and surface-water exchanges in lakes of the northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 2002 through 2015 (09/06/17)

Predicting redox-sensitive contaminant concentrations in groundwater using random forest classification (09/25/17)

Concentration and trend of 1,4-dioxane in wells sampled during 2002-2017 in the vicinity of the Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site, Arizona (09/26/17)

USGS Groundwater-Related Software Updates and New Releases

MODFLOW 6 v6.0.1

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

Note: The following links take you to data.gov

MODFLOW-2005 and MT3DMS models used to design and evaluate a bioremediation experiment at the former Naval Air Warfare Center, West Trenton, NJ

MODFLOW-NWT model used to simulate and assess groundwater flow and surface-water exchanges in lakes of the Northeast Twin Cities Metropolitan Area, Minnesota, 2003 through 2013

Field Photo

USGS collects groundwater data across the Nation. Did you know that USGS collects near real-time water-level data from over 1700 wells across the United States? At these wells, real-time data are transmitted continuously from a well to the USGS by satellite or telephone at least once per day. Real-time data reflect current groundwater conditions in the well. This photo shows a USGS well and telemetry equipment in Osage County, Oklahoma.

[ Photo: USGS groundwater well with a rainbow in the background. ]

Credit: USGS. Photo is in the public domain. Click on photo for larger version.

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.