USGS Monthly Groundwater News and Highlights: April 1, 2020

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Water Quality and COVID-19

With recent public health concerns around COVID-19 (https://www.coronavirus.gov/), many people are asking about water quality and safety. For the latest federal guidance on water quality and COVID-19, please refer to:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Coronavirus and Drinking Water and Wastewater
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Water Transmission and COVID-19
State and local water-resources management agencies and public water suppliers for local resources and guidelines

USGS priority is to continue the important work of the Department of the Interior and the USGS, while also maintaining the health and safety of our employees and community. Based on guidance from the White House, the CDC, and state and local authorities, we are shifting our operations to a virtual mode and have minimal staffing within our offices. These changes have also impacted recent and planned field work and field data collection activities.

Feature: Learning Resources

Water cycle poster for school and kids. Available for download online. Credit: USGS.

With the temporary closure of many schools and universities and the shift to online and (or) home-based learning, many educators and families are looking for learning resources. Check out some these USGS resources that might be of interest!

K-12: USGS Water Science School is filled with great information about water in the world around us, including groundwater.
Frequently asked groundwater questions
USGS videos demonstrating groundwater field methods:

Explore USGS groundwater software available for download and use
Brush up on your R coding skills with the USGS Water Resources Mission Area’s R learning curriculum.
Download USGS groundwater data
Explore USGS groundwater information and resources online

Animation of Groundwater Watch Active Water Level Network

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 March 2020. Credit: USGS. The image is in the public domain.

USGS Groundwater-Related Publications

Groundwater quality in the Biscayne Aquifer, Florida (03/31/20)

Groundwater Quality in the Ozark Plateaus Aquifer System, Central United States (03/31/20)

Groundwater quality in the Columbia Plateau Basaltic-Rock Aquifers, northwestern United States (03/31/20)

Groundwater quality in the High Plains Aquifer (03/31/20)

Hydrologic Monitoring Networks in the Death Valley Regional Flow System, Nye County, Nevada and Inyo County, California (03/31/20)

Effects of huisache removal on rangeland evapotranspiration in Victoria County, south-central Texas, 2015-18 (03/27/20)

Hydrogeologic units, contour maps, and cross sections of the Boone and Roubidoux aquifers, northeastern Oklahoma, 2020 (03/27/20)

Water resources of Union Parish, Louisiana (03/19/20)

Optimization assessment of a groundwater-level observation network in the Middle Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico (03/18/20)

Groundwater quality and geochemistry of West Virginia's southern coal fields (03/13/20)

Groundwater characterization and effects of pumping in the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system, Nevada and California, with special reference to Devils Hole (03/12/20)

Water-quality comparison of the Gulf Coast aquifer system at various scales in Texas from National Water-Quality Assessment groundwater studies, 2013-15 (03/02/20)

Borehole-scale testing of matrix diffusion for contaminated-rock aquifers (03/02/20)

Water withdrawals, uses, and trends in Florida, 2015 (03/02/20)

Relating hydroclimatic change to streamflow, baseflow, and hydrologic partitioning in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1980 to 2015 (03/06/20)

USGS Groundwater Flow and Transport Model Data Releases

MODFLOW-NWT groundwater model used for simulating potential future pumping scenarios and forecasting associated groundwater-level changes in the Truxton aquifer on the Hualapai Reservation and adjacent areas, Mohave County, Arizona

MODFLOW-2005 model and supplementary data used to characterize groundwater flow and effects of pumping in the Death Valley regional groundwater flow system, Nevada and California, with special reference to Devils Hole

Field Photo

More than 43 million people in the U.S. (about 15 percent of the population) rely on domestic wells as their source of drinking water. As part of USGS studies to understand local, regional, and national groundwater conditions, homeowners have allowed USGS to measure groundwater levels or collect water samples in their private wells. In the top photo shown here, USGS hydrologist Matt Conlon prepares to collect a groundwater sample from a well in Pennsylvania. In the second photo, USGS biologist Robin Brightbill prepares a water-quality sample collected from another domestic well in Pennsylvania. Learn more about USGS Pennsylvania Water Science Center groundwater activities or explore USGS groundwater data in Pennsylvania.

[ Photo of USGS scientist connecting tubing to a well ]

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

[ Photo of USGS scientist handling water samples ]

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

Archive of Past Highlights:

Past monthly summaries are available online.