Publications

Land subsidence associated with ground-water-level declines has been investigated by the U.S. Geological Survey in the Coachella Valley, California, since 1996. Ground water has been a major source of agricultural, municipal, and domestic supply in the valley since the early 1920s. Pumping of ground water resulted in water-level declines as large as 15 meters (50 feet) through the late 1940s. In 1

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is initiating a new project designed to improve resiliency to natural hazards in southern California through the application of science to community decision making and emergency response. The Multi-Hazards Demonstration Project will assist the region’s communities to reduce their risk from natural hazards by directing new and existing research towards the communi

To help define baseline water quality of key water resources at Pinnacles National Monument, California, the U.S. Geological Survey collected and analyzed ground water from seven springs sampled during June 2006. During the dry season, seeps and springs are the primary source of water for wildlife in the monument and provide habitat for plants, amphibians, and aquatic life. Water samples were anal

No abstract available.

Suspended-sediment concentration data were collected by the U.S. Geological Survey in San Francisco Bay during water year 2005 (October 1, 2004-September 30, 2005). Optical sensors and water samples were used to monitor suspended-sediment concentration at two sites in Suisun Bay, three sites in San Pablo Bay, two sites in Central San Francisco Bay, and three sites in South San Francisco Bay. Senso

Results reported herein include trace element concentrations in sediment and in the clam Macoma petalum (formerly reported as Macoma balthica (Cohen and Carlton 1995)), clam reproductive activity, and benthic macroinvertebrate community structure for a mudflat one kilometer south of the discharge of the Palo Alto Regional Water Quality Control Plant in South San Francisco Bay. This report includes

Ground-water quality in the approximately 1,000-square-mile Monterey Bay and Salinas Valley study unit was investigated from July through October 2005 as part of the California Ground-Water Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) program. The study was designed to provide a spatially unbiased assessment of raw ground-water quality, as well as a statistically consistent basis for comparing water q

Former commercial salt ponds in Alviso, California, now are operated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to provide habitat for birds. The USFWS has modified the operation of the ponds to prevent exceedingly high salinity. Ponds that were formerly hydraulically isolated from South San Francisco Bay and adjacent sloughs now are managed as flow-through ponds, and some are allowed to discha

Since 1992, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Mojave Water Agency (MWA), has constructed a series of regional water-table maps for intermittent years in a continuing effort to monitor groundwater conditions in the Mojave River and Morongo groundwater basins. The previously published data, which were used to construct these maps, can be accessed on the interactive map. The

Introduction The U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources, in cooperation with Federal, State, and local agencies, obtains a large amount of data pertaining to the ground-water resources of California each water year (October 1-September 30). These data constitute a valuable database for developing an improved understanding of the water resources of the State. This Fact Sheet serves as an ind

Health-Based Screening Levels (HBSLs) are non-enforceable water-quality benchmarks that were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in collaboration with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others. HBSLs supplement existing Federal drinking-water standards and guidelines, thereby providing a basis for a more comprehensive evaluation of contaminant-occurrence data in the context o

Executive Summary Fuel reduction projects have become an increasingly important component of state and federal fuels management programs. However, an unintended result of some pre-fire fuel manipulation projects may be the introduction of nonnative invasive plants. The establishment of nonnative plants within fuel breaks is a serious concern because the presence of invasive species in areas tre