Surface Water Quality
Surface Water Quality
California's rivers and streams are a priceless resource. To understand the value of water quality, and to more effectively manage and protect the state's water resources, it's critical that we know the current status of water-quality conditions, and how and why those conditions have been changing over time. At the California Water Science Center, measuring the quality of surface water is one of the chief aims of its hydrological monitoring efforts.
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Scotts Creek Nutrient Erosion Study, Lake County, California
Clear Lake, the largest natural lake entirely within California, has a severe problem with harmful algal blooms which can be detrimental to aquatic life by depriving it of oxygen when the algae dies, sinks, and decays. A driving factor of these conditions are the nutrient loads being carried into the lake by soil erosion and the transport of sediment from the lake’s tributaries. Recently, an...
Assessing Sediment Nutrient Storage and Release in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
Sediments represent an important pool of nutrients in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta). The exchange of nutrients between the water column and the benthos impacts water quality and effects phytoplankton, harmful algal blooms, aquatic vegetation, and drinking water quality. To date, there is very limited information about nutrient pools in Delta sediments, nor how these nutrients are...
High Resolution Temporal and Spatial Mapping of Mercury and Methylmercury in Surface Waters of the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta
Mercury (Hg) is a contaminant of significant concern in the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary and watershed (Bay-Delta). The formation, fate, and transport of methylmercury (MeHg), a particularly toxic organic form of Hg that readily bioaccumulates in wildlife, has been studied extensively throughout the system. However, there is widespread recognition of the need for more comprehensive monitoring...
Evaluating the effects of wastewater-derived nutrients on phytoplankton abundance and community structure in the San Francisco Estuary and Delta
Planned upgrades to the Sacramento Regional wastewater treatment plant (SRWTP) will substantially reduce nutrient discharge and also alter the types and amounts of nutrients being distributed across the San Francisco Delta and Estuary (Delta). One highly anticipated outcome of lower nutrients is improved productivity in the phytoplankton communities that supply aquatic food webs, which should...
Modeling Nitrogen Reduction Benefit to Invasive Aquatic Vegetation vs. Native Phytoplankton
Phytoplankton comprise the bottom of the aquatic food web and the abundance of phytoplankton serves as an indicator of healthy aquatic habitats. In the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta), competing with phytoplankton for required nitrogen, invasive aquatic vegetation (IAV) has increased exponentially in recent years. Once established, IAV can negatively impact local ecosystems and...
Monitoring Cyanotoxins in California's Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta: Fixed Stations and High-Resolution Mapping Surveys
California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta (Delta) provides drinking water to about 30 million people and irrigation water to the agriculturally rich Central Valley. The Delta is also home to numerous threatened and endangered native species. The health of the Delta's aquatic ecosystems, and fish in particular, have long been in a state of decline. This is associated with decreasing...
Effects of Wildfire and Fire Retardants on Nutrient Transport in California Watersheds
Large wildfires have increased in size and frequency in the western United States over the past several decades. This has led to increased soil erosion and the transport of sediment containing nutrients into streams and reservoirs. Excess nutrients typically lead to the increased production of algae which can then lead to low levels of dissolved oxygen. This degrades the habitat for fish and...
Mercury studies at Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine and Clear Lake, California
The abandoned Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine on the shores of Clear Lake in Northern California has been designated as a "Superfund Site" by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This means that the EPA has determined that the area is contaminated by hazardous waste and requires cleanup because it poses a risk to human health and/or the environment. One of the chief contaminants at the site...
Examining Erosion at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, a Sierra Nevada Gold Mine
Located in Nevada County, California, Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park was the Sierra Nevada’s largest hydraulic gold mine, operating from 1866 to 1884. Historically, part of the process of hydraulic mining included using mercury to extract gold from produced sediment through the process of amalgamation. This process left thousands of pounds of mercury and other heavy metals in the area...
Developing Spatial Data on Mineral Deposits Found on Abandoned Mine Lands
Better understanding of mineral deposits and their impact on the environment, including the water system, is necessary for the protection of public health. The USGS is working with other federal and state agencies to identify the environmental behavior of these deposits and their waste products. USGS scientists are using geospatial data (data that can be mapped) to prioritize abandoned mine land...
Occurrence of Current-use Pesticides in Suisun Bay and Potential Effects on Phytoplankton
Suisun Bay is an area identified as critical habitat for the threatened Delta Smelt. Several important changes in the pelagic food web of this area have been documented over the last two decades indicating that food for Delta Smelt and other threatened fishes is in short.
Development of a spatially explicit ecosystem model to explore physiochemical drivers of step changes in POD species abundance and distribution in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Bay
Prior to 2000, the four most abundant resident pelagic fishes in the study area included two native species, delta smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) a federal listed endangered species, and longfin smelt (Spirinchus thaleicthys) a state listed endangered species, and two introduced species, threadfin shad (Dorosoma petenense) and age-0 striped bass (Morone saxatilis).