Publications

Decadal- to annual-scale analyses of changes to the fluvial form and processes of the Cedar River in Washington State, USA, reveal the effects of flow regulation, bank stabilization, and log-jam removal on a gravel-bedded river in a temperate climate. During the twentieth century, revetments were built along ~ 60% of the lower Cedar River's length and the 2-year return period flow decreased by 47%

Carbon is cycled to and from large reservoirs in the atmosphere, on land, and in the ocean. Movement of organic carbon from the terrestrial reservoir to the ocean plays an important role in the global cycling of carbon. The transition from natural to agricultural vegetation can change the storage and movement of organic carbon in and from a watershed. Samples were collected from 13 streams located

North-central Iowa is an agriculturally intensive area comprising the southeastern portion of the Prairie Pothole Region, a landscape containing a high density of enclosed topographical depressions. Artificial drainage practices have been implemented throughout the area to facilitate agricultural production. Vertical surface drains are utilized to drain the topographical depressions that accumulat

A hydrodynamic-settling device was installed in 2004 to treat stormwater runoff from a roof and parking lot located at the Water Utility Administration Building in Madison, Wis. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the City of Madison, cities in the Waukesha Permit Group, Hydro International, Earth Tech, Inc., National Sanitation Foundation

Mercer Lake is a relatively shallow drainage lake in north-central Wisconsin. The area near the lake has gone through many changes over the past century, including urbanization and industrial development. To try to improve the water quality of the lake, actions have been taken, such as removal of the lumber mill and diversion of all effluent from the sewage treatment plant away from the lake; howe

The St. Louis Bay of Lake Superior receives substantial urban runoff, wastewater treatment plant effluent, and industrial effluent. In 1987, the International Joint Commission designated the St. Louis Bay portion of the lower St. Louis River as one of the Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Concerns exist about the potential effects of chemicals of emerging concern on aquatic biota because many of these

The relative importance of agricultural land retirement on water quality and aquatic-community health was investigated in the Minnesota River Basin. Eighty-two sites, with drainage areas ranging from 4.3 to 2200 km2, were examined for nutrient concentrations, measures of aquatic-community health (e.g., fish index of biotic integrity [IBI] scores), and environmental factors (e.g., drainage area and

Models of environmental systems have become increasingly complex, incorporating increasingly large numbers of parameters in an effort to represent physical processes on a scale approaching that at which they occur in nature. Consequently, the inverse problem of parameter estimation (specifically, model calibration) and subsequent uncertainty analysis have become increasingly computation-intensive

In 2009, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Geological Survey developed a plan to compare the effect of various streamgaging and water-quality collection techniques on streamflow and stream water-quality data for the Saginaw River, Michigan. The Saginaw River is the primary contributor of surface runoff to Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, draining approximately 70 percent of the

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is charged with oversight of dam operations throughout Wisconsin and is considering modifications to the operating orders for the Rest Lake Dam in Vilas County, Wisconsin. State law requires that the operation orders be tied to natural low flows at the dam. Because the presence of the dam confounds measurement of natural flows, the U.S. Geological Surv

The Fox River is a 199-mile-long tributary to the Illinois River within the Mississippi River Basin in the states of Wisconsin and Illinois. For the purposes of this study the Upper Fox River Basin is defined as the topographic basin that extends from the upstream boundary of the Fox River Basin to a large wetland complex in south-central Waukesha County called the Vernon Marsh. The objectives for

The antimicrobial agents triclosan (TCS), triclocarban (TCC) and their associated transformation products are of increasing concern as environmental pollutants due to their potential adverse effects on humans and wildlife, including bioaccumulation and endocrine-disrupting activity. Analysis by tandem mass spectrometry of 24 paired freshwater bed sediment samples (top 10 cm) collected by the U.S.