Images

One of the wells that's part of the groundwater monitoring network in Anza Valley, CA.

Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park

In 2012, the Groundwater Ambient Monitoring & Assessment Priority Basin Project (GAMA-PBP) began water-quality assessments of shallow aquifers, the groundwater resources typically used for private domestic and small system drinking-water supplies.

Location map showing the location of facilities along the Colorado River and Yuma agricultural area adjacent to the United States-Mexico Border (USBR, 2011).

The All-American Canal (AAC) in southern Imperial County, California, has historically been unlined, resulting in substantial losses to seepage. In 2006, the Imperial Irrigation District, under a contract with the United States Bureau of Reclamation, initiated a project to build a concrete-lined canal parallel to 23 miles of the earthen AAC.

Gold pan with more than 30 grams of mercury from 1 kilogram of mercury-contaminated sediments collected in a drainage tunnel.

The Imperial Sand Dunes Recreational Area, located in Imperial County in the far southeast corner of California. It is home to a groundwater well field that is part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado Water Supply Project.

A USGS Hydrologist purges a groundwater monitoring well in preparation for water-quality sampling in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation area, Imperial Valley, California.  This sampling was done as part of the Forecasting Total Dissolved Solids Concentrations of Groundwater from the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project study.

The Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM) is built on knowledge from USGS and other Federal, State, and local studies. The CVHM was constrained by comparing simulated and historically observed groundwater levels, streamflows, and subsidence.

A USGS Hydrologist re-develops a monitoring well to ensure a good hydraulic connection is present between the perforations in the well and surrounding aquifer.  This work was being done as part of a groundwater system characterization and groundwater quality study being conducted along the All-American Canal that runs through the area.

A scientist from the USGS California Water Science Center taking well water sample in California.

A USGS Hydrologist collects water-quality samples as part of a wellbore characterization test at site LCWSP2 of the Forecasting Total Dissolved Solids Concentrations of Groundwater from the Lower Colorado Water Supply Project study.

The All-American Canal in Imperial County, California near the border of Arizona and Mexico. Water discharging from well LCWSP2 can be seen on the far side of the canal.

Aerial view of the Iron Gate Dam and Hatchery along the Klamath River near Hornbrook, California.  A series of hydroelectric facilities (JC Boyle, Copco No. 1, Copco No. 2, and Iron Gate) separate the Klamath River into upper and lower basins.

Recording location and water-level data at a groundwater monitoring site in the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation area, Imperial County, California. The work is being done as part of a water quality and groundwater system characterization study along the All-American Canal that runs through the area.

USGS scientist collecting water samples from an amphibian monitoring site in Livermore, California.

Stream gage #10254005 located near Westmorland, CA, on the eastern shore of the Salton Sea, now sits out of the water as the Salton Sea continues to evaporate and the shoreline retreats.

Schematic showing conceptual model of net infiltration illustrating the layered root-zone waterbalance model for the San Gorgonio Pass area, Riverside County California.  The INFILv3 model uses a daily water-balance model of the root zone to estimate the spatial and temporal distribution of natural groundwater recharge in a study area.

Looking east towards USGS Site ID: 340541117074401-6, Site Name: 001S002W07Q001S-6S, Local name: SBCC 1-6 in San Bernardino County, California.

A map of subsidence in the Delta based on the leveling and observations of transmission-line foundations, circa 1930s-1990s. The subsidence increases stresses on the levee system, and failure of levees would cause salt water to move further up the Delta system by disrupting favorable gradients.

Fissure near Lucerne Lake along State Route 247 (visible in background), Mojave Desert, California. The localized subsidence in five areas near dry lake beds was caused by declining water levels in fine-grained (clay and silt) sediments. In the Mojave River and Morongo Groundwater Basins (fig.