Publications

The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act require, for the first time, that each state prepare a source water assessment for all PWS. Previously, Federal regulations focused on sampling and enforcement with emphasis on the quality of delivered water. These Amendments emphasize the importance of protecting the source water. States are required to determine the drinking-water source, the or

The Devils Lake Basin is a 3,810-square-mile subbasin in the Red River of the North Basin.  At an elevation of about 1,447 feet above sea level, Devils Lake begins to spill into Stump Lake; and at an elevation of about 1,459 feet above sea level, the combined lakes begin to spill through Tolna Coulee into the Sheyenne River. Since the end of glaciation about 10,000 years ago, Devils Lake has fluct

The Trout Lake Watershed is in the Northern Highlands Lake District in north-central Wisconsin. The study area includes four subbasins with five lakes and two bog lakes. The objectives of the Trout Lake WEBB project are to (1) describe processes controlling water and solute fluxes in the Trout Lake watershed, (2) examine interactions among those processes and (3) improve the capability to predict

The Panola Mountain Research Watershed (PMRW) is a 41-hectare forested watershed in the southern Piedmont physiographic province near Atlanta, Georgia. The watershed contains a naturally regenerated second-growth forest on abandoned agricultural land, typical of the Piedmont. Research at PMRW has focused on how streamflow is generated, and in particular, on how water and solutes move from hillslop

This fact sheet describes a simple device for measuring the vertical hydraulic gradient (VHG) of shallow ground water beneath a stream bed. The VHG can be used to determine whether a stream is receiving or losing water at the point of measurement. Used as part of a spatial or temporal survey, such measurements can yield valuable information about the local hydrology of a stream/ground-water system

no abstract available.

Biogeochemical mass balance assessments of calcium status in southeastern forests indicate that losses through harvesting and soil leaching often exceed inputs from atmospheric deposition and weathering. Many forest soils of the southeastern United States are particularly sensitive because these soils and the underlying saprolite from which these soils are derived are largely depleted of weatherab

Naturally occurring radionuclides in the ground water of southeastern Pennsylvania may pose a health hazard to some residents, especially those drinking water from wells drilled in the Chickies Quartzite. Water from 46 percent of wells sampled in the Chickies Quartzite and 7 percent of wells sampled in other geologic formations exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) maximum cont

Between September 1997 and October 1998, nine monitor wells were drilled at the AIW Frank/Mid-County Mustang Superfund Site in Chester County, Pa., to determine the horizontal and vertical distribution of contaminated ground water migrating from known contaminant sources. The U.S. Geological Survey conducted borehole geophysical logging and borehole television surveys in these boreholes to identif

In 1998, the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program began a regional study of water quality in the High Plains aquifer. The High Plains aquifer underlies an area of about 174,000 square miles in parts of eight States. Because of its large size, the High Plains aquifer has been divided into three regions: the Southern High Plains, Central High Plains, and Norther

Arsenic is a naturally occurring element in rocks, soils, and the waters in contact with them. Recognized as a toxic element for centuries, arsenic today also is a human health concern because it can contribute to skin, bladder, and other cancers (National Research Council, 1999). Recently, the National Research Council (1999) recommended lowering the current maximum contaminant level (MCL) allowe

The introduction of nutrients from chemical fertilizer, animal manure, wastewater, and atmospheric deposition to the eastern Iowa environment creates a large potential for nutrient transport in watersheds. Agriculture constitutes 93 percent of all land use in eastern Iowa. As part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program, water samples were collected (typically month