New England Water Science Center Projects

The USGS, the University of New Hampshire, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, and the Maine Geological Survey are collaborating on a study of a novel shallow well design that might be able to provide safe drinking water to domestic well users in arsenic-prone parts of the Nation.

The USGS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are examining the potential effects of droughts on the arsenic hazard in private well water across the Nation.

FEMA has requested USGS expertise in hydraulics, hydrology, and mapping to generate flood insurance maps for New England.

Currently, there are 16 designated rivers in New Hampshire in need of daily mean streamflow estimates for managing instream flows. Many of New Hampshire’s Designated Rivers have current and/or historical streamflow data that may be used to extend an existing streamgages streamflow record in time through record extension techniques. Evaluating the feasibility of record extension techniques to...

The purpose of this work is to better understand the effects of dam removal on local hydraulics, fish passage, and flooding. This study is part of a larger effort to monitor ecological resilience changes at nine Hurricane Sandy coastal resiliency aquatic connectivity restoration projects. It will contribute crucial knowledge that will be used to improve aquatic connectivity system cost...

Hydrologic droughts and floods can have severe impacts on river infrastructure, water supply, and ecosystem functioning.

The flood-frequency characteristics for streamgages and regression equations for estimating flood magnitudes have been published.

As part of the National Water Budget Project, our objective is to quantify how well observed trends are simulated.

This project will provide a deterministic watershed model of the Meduxnekeag River watershed with a capacity to model water-temperatures capable of simulating future hydrologic and temperature changes based on projected climate estimates.

Low streamflow has great ecological importance as it defines the minimum extent (and carrying capacity) of in-stream habitat and affects biota composition and distribution, and species trophic structure.

Knowledge of the magnitude and frequency of floods is needed for the effective and safe design of bridges, culverts, and other structures. This information is also important for flood-plain planning and management. Periodic examination of flood-frequency characteristics is essential to ensure the best estimates of flood magnitudes for a given annual exceedance probabilities (AEP).

River-borne nutrients, especially nitrogen, contribute to water-quality degradation in Long Island Sound. The Connecticut River is the largest tributary to the Sound, and quantification of nutrient loads from the three upper States in the watershed, as well as the State of Connecticut, is essential for prioritizing efforts to improve the Sound’s water quality.