Streamflow, Groundwater, and Lakes

In eastern Nebraska, secondary aquifer systems are increasingly being considered to supplement growing municipal, domestic, and agricultural water demands. Within the Eastern Nebraska Water Resources Assessment (ENWRA) area, airborne geophysical surveys have mapped the thickness and extent of these aquifers over much of eastern Nebraska; however little is known about the age and quality of water...

The USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has been collecting groundwater quality samples in cooperation with the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District (NRD) since 1992 in support of the NRD's groundwater management plan. The basic geochemistry and age of the groundwater was established. Well waters are sampled yearly throughout the NRD to monitor the resource and assess concentrations of...

A detailed annual water budget is invaluable for effective interrelated water management, particularly in river valleys where streamflow and crop demands are key components of the budget. Extraction of groundwater or diversion of surface water can affect flow to streams, wetlands, and other surface-water bodies. We are providing new insights into the water budget by estimating quantities of...

Willow Creek Reservoir is a 700-acre lake in northeast Nebraska. The reservoir has been experiencing frequent harmful algal blooms which pose a health threat to wildlife and humans. The USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has been working with several partners to characterize the algal blooms, investigate possible causes, correlate the algal blooms and possible causes, and deliver the information...

Flood inundation maps are a sequence of maps which show where flooding may occur at different stream levels. These maps can help communities prepare for, understand, and mitigate flood risks in their area.

Streams in the Loup River basin are sensitive to groundwater withdrawals because of the close hydrologic connection between groundwater and surface water. Pumping from aquifers that are hydrologically connected to surface-water bodies can have a significant effect on the streams by reducing the groundwater discharge to surface water. An evaluation of any groundwater management strategy needs to...

Eight unsaturated-zone research sites were installed in the Central Platte Natural Resources District as part of the High Plains Unsaturated-Zone Research Network. These 8 sites were installed to determine recharge and chemical transport rates in the unsaturated zone beneath important land-use settings and climate gradients across the Central Platte Natural Resources District.

Among the various habitat types within a river corridor, sandbars are highly dynamic and quite sensitive to changes such as channel width, streamflow, and riparian woodland expansion. As people, infrastructure, and other factors encroach upon the Lower Platte River, we are exploring variation in the height and area of sandbars to better accommodate all of these uses without jeopardizing these...

We are providing monitoring assistance related to the construction of off-channel aquatic habitat (such as chutes) along the Missouri River. This construction is currently done using a hydraulic dredge to excavate floodplain material. The dredge slurry is discharged into the main channel of the Missouri River. The potential impacts on nutrient and sediment levels in the river from this practice...

Since 1991, the USGS Nebraska Water Science Center has collected water samples from six monitoring wells in the Platte River alluvial aquifer near Ashland. Analytes include major and trace metals, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, pesticides and their degradates, and arsenic species. The samples are analyzed by the USGS National Water Quality Laboratory. The USGS also collects additional...