Streamflow
Streamflow
To help emergency managers and others protect life and property due to floods and other water-related hazards, the USGS delivers a continuous source of streamflow information. The USGS California Water Science Center maintains nearly 500 streamgages that collect data to determine the amount of water flowing in rivers and streams in California. Automatic alerts are transmitted when water levels change rapidly and/or reach flood stage. These alerts help emergency managers assess potential hazardous conditions near the gage or for downstream locations.
California Streamgage Information
California Streamgage Information
To help emergency managers and others protect life and property due to floods and other water-related hazards, the USGS delivers a continuous source of streamflow information.
Sediment, Streamflow, and Climate Change
Sediment, Streamflow, and Climate Change
The future sediment supply to the Bay-Delta is strongly dependent on peak river flows.
Filter Total Items: 59
Interactions Between Physical Processes and Suspended Sediment Quality in Relation to Spawning Migrations of Delta Smelt
The proposed study is designed to better establish relationships between patterns of delta smelt abundance and properties of suspended particles as measured by optical and acoustical techniques.
Monitoring the Impacts of the Rim Fire on Tuolumne River Water Quality
The Rim Fire has burned over 400 square miles of the Tuolumne River and Merced River watersheds in central California and is now the 3rd largest wildfire in state history. The burn area is largely on the Tuolumne between Hetch Hetchy Reservoir and Don Pedro Reservoir, both of which serve as critical sources of drinking water and irrigation water to San Francisco Bay area and Central Valley...
Development of Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) for the Tuolumne River Basin, Central California, with application for streamflow predictability and flood forecasting.
Runoff from snowmelt and rainfall in the Tuolumne River basin plays a significant role in irrigation and domestic water supply for Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts, City of Modesto and the San Francisco Bay Area. This area experiences very different seasonal and decadal climate events which are known to affect the timing and volumes of runoff. Land-cover change alone, such as the Rim Fire...
Perchlorate Source Attribution Study in Zones 1-4 of the Stringfellow Superfund Site, Jurupa Valley, Riverside County, California
Between 1956 and 1972, the Stringfellow Hazardous Waste Site, Riverside County, Calif., discharged approximately 34 million gallons of industrial wastes to unlined surface impoundments located at the head of Pyrite Canyon. Contaminants from the site have been detected as far as 4 miles downgradient near the Santa Ana River. Perchlorate in excess of the California Maximum Contaminant Level of 6...
Sediment supply, salt marsh monitoring, and the carbon budget of Humboldt Bay, CA
Suspended-sediment measurements are essential for coastal planning, resource management, and for assessing the sustainability of salt marshes in relation to expected sea-level rise. Suspended sediment can have positive or negative effects, depending on its characteristics and amount, and on the location and ecosystem services of interest. Sediment deposition in salt marshes helps sustain marsh...
Implementing New Acoustic Monitoring Techniques in the Trinity River
Accurate river-sediment data is fundamental to planning and managing river restoration efforts on the Trinity River, and throughout the world’s waterways. The USGS has developed a “hydrophone” that enables scientists to listen to sediment particles as they move along the riverbed in order to inexpensively and reliably record near-continuous sediment-bedload-transport data. For this study...
Pesticide Fate Research Group (PFRG)
Pesticides are used in both agricultural and urban settings to manage unwanted plants, insects, fungi, and other pests. However, these substances and their breakdown products can move beyond their intended application sites through various means, ending up in areas where they weren't meant to be. This movement can happen via the air, through water (both surface and groundwater), and by sticking to...
San Bernardino Optimal Basin Management
The San Bernardino area of southern California has complex water-management issues. As an aid to local water managers, this report provides an integrated analysis of the surface-water and ground-water systems, documents ground-water flow and constrained optimization models, and provides seven examples using the models to better understand and manage water resources of the area. As an aid to...
Ground-Water Nitrate and Organic Carbon Inputs to the Lower San Joaquin River
This proposal addresses drinking water and aquatic habitat issues associated with nitrate and organic carbon in the lower San Joaquin River (SJR).
Assessing Geomorphic Change in Support of Science-Based Restoration, Trinity River, CA
Historic landuse, dam construction, water storage and flow diversion within the Trinity River watershed resulted in downstream geomorphic changes that simplified the river planform and lead to dramatic losses of salmonid habitat and significant population declines. The Trinity River Restoration Program (TRRP) requested the USGS complete an assessment of geomorphic change that could be used to...
Improved Monitoring of Water Quality and Pelagic Organism Decline in the Delta with Continuous In Situ Sensor Measurements
Newly-developed, commercially-available sensors permit real-time collection of water quality data that may help identify ecosystem processes that affect the health of pelagic food webs in the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta. In particular, the simultaneous measurement of nutrients, organic matter and algal abundance along with the basic water quality variables such as temperature and salinity -...