Water Availability and Use

The USGS Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility (HIF) supports the water-resource monitoring efforts of USGS scientists and other Federal scientists by providing quality-assured hydrologic equipment and instrumentation support.

The USGS serves as the lead agency for the United States to measure and apportion natural flows of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers according to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 and the International Joint Commission Order of 1921. The division of water between the United States and Canada is overseen by the Accredited Officers of the St. Mary and Milk Rivers, who are appointed by their respective...

Declining snow cover is playing a key role in decreasing the flow of the Colorado River, “the lifeblood of the Southwest,” by enabling increased evaporation. As the warming continues, increasingly severe water shortages are expected.

The USGS National Hydrologic Model (NHM) infrastructure supports the efficient construction of local-, regional-, and national-scale hydrologic models. The NHM infrastructure consists of: 1) an underlying geospatial fabric of modeling units with an associated parameter database, 2) a model input data archive, and 3) a repository of the physical model simulation code bases.

The Intergovernmental (formerly International) Hydrological Programme (IHP) is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) international scientific cooperative program in water research, water resources management, education, and capacity building.

USGS water-related projects of international interest.

As the USGS Water Resources Mission Area looks to the future, we are updating our water programs to meet 21st century water-resource challenges. As part of these updates, we are integrating the National Water Quality Assessment Project's water-resource monitoring, assessment, trends, modeling, and forecasting activities into new WMA programs.

The Urban Waters Federal Partnership reconnects urban communities with their waterways by improving coordination among federal agencies, particularly those communities that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution or economic distress. The UWFP draws upon Environmental Justice principles—the idea that all people, regardless of race, religion, national origin, or economic station, deserve...

The Flaxville aquifer is present in the northern and central parts of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation and consists of sand and gravel that forms extensive plateaus and topographic benches used for dryland farming. Because many residents rely on groundwater as their primary water supply on the Reservation, the Flaxville and underlying aquifers are important sources of groundwater. The goal of this...

Artificial subsurface drainage is being increasingly utilized on agricultural land in southeast Minnesota. This region is underlain by thinner glacial deposits than are found in the historically drained areas of the State. Due to these thinner deposits, drainage in this area may have a greater impact on recharge to the underlying bedrock aquifers, a critical resource to the region.

StreamStats provides access to spatial analytical tools that are useful for water-resources planning and management, and for engineering and design purposes. The map-based user interface can be used to delineate drainage areas, get basin characteristics and estimates of flow statistics, and more. Available information varies from state to state.

The USGS is evaluating the integration of small unoccupied aircraft systems – sUAS or "drones" – into USGS hydrogeophysical studies. The following projects are part of a Water Resources Mission Area demonstration and evaluation effort in collaboration with USGS Water Science Centers (WSCs) starting in June 2018.