Common Water Issues

Suspended sediment and nutrients from greater San Antonio can affect instream ecological health of the San Antonio River and ultimately impact Gulf of Mexico bays and estuaries. Real-time monitoring in urban and rural parts of the river basin may provide a glimpse into the importance of urban sediment and nutrient sources. Real-time sensors provide a tool to better understand and manage water...

Several watersheds in the Baltimore region have elevated PCB loads in tidal waters. Local jurisdictions are responsible for reducing PCB loading from their watersheds. The USGS is embarking on a pilot study in the Patapsco watershed that will help determine sources of PCBs and will demonstrate innovative monitoring and analysis techniques for more efficient use of mitigation resouces.

Reconnecting people and water is an increasingly important goal in many urban areas. Parks, urban trails, boat ramps, and urban agriculture all are ways that an urban population can interact with nature and improve quality of life. USGS is participating in gathering the information that will make these projects possible.

USGS scientists are using high-resolution handheld and airborne thermal imaging cameras in groundwater/surface-water exchange studies and other investigations where surface temperature contrasts indicate various hydrological processes. These cameras are used to quickly locate and characterize thermal (temperature) anomalies along streams, lakes, wetlands, estuaries, and across the landscape...

Fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing (FO-DTS) technology can be used for characterizing estuary-aquifer and stream-aquifer interaction and for identifying transmissive fractures in bedrock boreholes.

Locating and quantifying exchanges of groundwater and surface water, along with characterizing geologic structure, is essential to water-resource managers and hydrologists for the development of effective water-resource policy, protection, and management. The USGS conducts applied research to evaluate the use of new or emerging hydrogeophysical tools and methods to improve our understanding of...

Results of water analyses conducted on numerous thermal and non-thermal features in Yellowstone National Park beginning in 2009. Water samples were collected and analyzed as part of research investigations on arsenic, iron, nitrogen, and sulfur redox species in hot springs and overflow drainages; the occurrence and distribution of dissolved mercury; and general hydrogeochemistry of hot springs.

A magnitude 5.8 (Mw) earthquake occurred at 1:51 pm EDT (17:51 UTC) on August 23, 2011, at a depth of about 3.7 miles (6 kilometers) beneath the town of Mineral, Virginia, located approximately 27 miles (45 kilometers) east of Charlottesville. The event is among the largest earthquakes recorded in the eastern United States.

For the past 50 years, the USGS has been conducting research in the San Francisco Bay and Delta, California and beyond. This research would not have been possible without the Research Vessel (R/V) Polaris . Many scientists who have been fortunate to work on the Polaris have come and gone, but the Polaris sailed from the South San Francisco Bay continuously from 1968 until her retirement in 2015.

An evaporation sleeve is placed within a solar distillation loop apparatus to increase the amount of water evaporated by the apparatus. (Full details provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.)

A solar distillation loop apparatus includes a first pipe section disposed on a ground surface, the first pipe section including a substantially straight portion and elevated portions on each end of the substantially straight portion, an impure water inflow coupling and an impure water outflow coupling. (Full details provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.)

Methyl halide contaminants are oxidized in a reaction chamber containing a methylotrophic bacterium through direct oxidation of the methyl halide contaminant. (Full details provided by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office website.)