David Rus

The USGS Nebraska Water Science Center maintains a network of continuous water-quality monitors across Nebraska which provide near-real-time water-quality data. Continuous water-quality monitors are typically installed at or near existing USGS stream gages or wells. Parameters that are monitored at continuous water-quality sites include water temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen...

USGS Nebraska Water Science Center hydrologists, in cooperation with Douglas County, Nebraska, are monitoring the performance of stormwater bioretention cells that use “green” infrastructure techniques in Omaha, Nebraska. Bioretention cells are used to reduce the quantity of stormwater that flows into a combined sewer overflow (CSO) system which reduces discharge of raw sewage into local streams...

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...

Stormwater management methodologies are shifting from the traditional storm sewer to a more green-infrastructure approach that stresses the importance of capturing, retaining and treating stormwater. The implementation of green infrastructure uses various Best Management Practices (BMPs) to mitigate the effects of stormwater on flooding and water quality. A bioretention cell is a BMP that captures...

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...