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Results for “Journal American Water Works Association”

Search indexed USGS publications on groundwater, aquifers, geologic maps, mineral resources and earthquakes. Explore source records by subject and place.

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48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS2007

Enhancing fecal coliform total maximum daily load models through bacterial source tracking

Surface water impairment by fecal coliform bacteria is a water quality issue of national scope and importance. In Virginia, more than 400 stream and river segments are on the Commonwealth's 2002 303(d) list because of fecal coliform impairment. Total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) will be developed for most of these listed streams and rivers. Information regarding the major fecal coliform sources that impair surface water quality would enhance the development of effective watershed models and improve TMDLs. Bacterial source tracking (BST) is a recently developed technology for identifying the sources of fecal coliform bacteria and it may be helpful in generating improved TMDLs. Bacterial source tracking was performed, watershed models were developed, and TMDLs were prepared for three streams (Accotink Creek, Christians Creek, and Blacks Run) on Virginia's 303(d) list of impaired waters. Quality assurance of the BST work suggests that these data adequately describe the bacteria sources that are impairing these streams. Initial comparison of simulated bacterial sources with the observed BST data indicated that the fecal coliform sources were represented inaccurately in the initial model simulation. Revised model simulations (based on BST data) appeared to provide a better representation of the sources of fecal coliform bacteria in these three streams. The coupled approach of incorporating BST data into the fecal coliform transport model appears to reduce model uncertainty and should result in an improved TMDL.

Virginia↗
USGS2023

The usability gap in water resources open data and actionable science initiatives

The open data movement represents a major advancement for informed water management. Data that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable—or FAIR —are now prerequisite to responsible data stewardship. In contrast to FAIR, accessibility and usability case studies and guidelines designed around human access and understanding are lacking in the literature, especially for water resources. Such decision support guidelines are critical because (i) inherent visual design trade-offs are not best made using intuition or feedback (perceived preference), and (ii) choosing designs requires a nuanced understanding of why and how the design works (revealed effectiveness). Thus, the goal of this commentary is to highlight knowledge gaps and discuss a general usability testing method which can be applied to any water resources decision support product. The user-testing approach includes (i) interviews about visualization goals, audiences, and the uses and decisions made with the data products, (ii) diagnosis of usability challenges, and (iii) redesign of decision support products given best practices and control versus treatment with intended end-user audiences. We illustrate the method using high-profile U.S. Geological Survey water science products. In sum, optimizing and testing for usability and understandability are as central to stakeholder use as FAIR standards are, and warrant being part of the development of data products and geovisualizations.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2016

An analysis of water data systems to inform the Open Water Data Initiative

Improving access to data and fostering open exchange of water information is foundational to solving water resources issues. In this vein, the Department of the Interior's Assistant Secretary for Water and Science put forward the charge to undertake an Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI) that would prioritize and accelerate work toward better water data infrastructure. The goal of the OWDI is to build out the Open Water Web (OWW). We therefore considered the OWW in terms of four conceptual functions: water data cataloging, water data as a service, enriching water data, and community for water data. To describe the current state of the OWW and identify areas needing improvement, we conducted an analysis of existing systems using a standard model for describing distributed systems and their business requirements. Our analysis considered three OWDI-focused use cases—flooding, drought, and contaminant transport—and then examined the landscape of other existing applications that support the Open Water Web. The analysis, which includes a discussion of observed successful practices of cataloging, serving, enriching, and building community around water resources data, demonstrates that we have made significant progress toward the needed infrastructure, although challenges remain. The further development of the OWW can be greatly informed by the interpretation and findings of our analysis.

Journal of the American Water Resources Associatio↗
USGS2021

Environmental conditions associated with occurrences of the threatened Yaqui Catfish in the Yaqui River Basin, Mexico

The Yaqui Catfish Ictalurus pricei is an understudied species, with limited information available on its ecology, distribution, and local habitat use. Native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, Yaqui Catfish populations are declining, which has prompted listing of the species as threatened in the United States and as a species of concern in Mexico. Water overallocation, habitat degradation, invasive species introductions, and hybridization with nonnative Channel Catfish I . punctatus have caused the populations in Mexico to decline. The United States population collapsed after years of low recruitment. To better focus conservation efforts as well as define habitat associated with Yaqui Catfish occurrences, we assessed the distribution in the Yaqui River basin of Mexico by using historical data at a landscape scale. Yaqui Catfish were historically found across the watershed among a diversity of environments but were most frequently associated with small, intermittent streams. Basin land cover was dominated by forest, shrubland, and grassland, and Yaqui Catfish generally occurred in stream segments at similar proportions. However, a small number of Yaqui Catfish occurrences were associated with urban and cropland land cover types in proportions greater than the availability of those categories on the landscape. With the species facing declines in the region, this work will help to inform future conservation efforts aimed at securing the Yaqui Catfish, protecting suitable habitat, and better defining its current status in Mexico.

Yaqui River Basin↗
USGS2007

Forces on stationary particles in near-bed turbulent flows

In natural flows, bed sediment particles are entrained and moved by the fluctuating forces, such as lift and drag, exerted by the overlying flow on the particles. To develop a better understanding of these forces and the relation of the forces to the local flow, the downstream and vertical components of force on near-bed fixed particles and of fluid velocity above or in front of them were measured synchronously at turbulence-resolving frequencies (200 or 500 Hz) in a laboratory flume. Measurements were made for a spherical test particle fixed at various heights above a smooth bed, above a smooth bed downstream of a downstream-facing step, and in a gravel bed of similarly sized particles as well as for a cubical test particle and 7 natural particles above a smooth bed. Horizontal force was well correlated with downstream velocity and not correlated with vertical velocity or vertical momentum flux. The standard drag formula worked well to predict the horizontal force, but the required value of the drag coefficient was significantly higher than generally used to model bed load motion. For the spheres, cubes, and natural particles, average drag coefficients were found to be 0.76, 1.36, and 0.91, respectively. For comparison, the drag coefficient for a sphere settling in still water at similar particle Reynolds numbers is only about 0.4. The variability of the horizontal force relative to its mean was strongly increased by the presence of the step and the gravel bed. Peak deviations were about 30% of the mean force for the sphere over the smooth bed, about twice the mean with the step, and 4 times it for the sphere protruding roughly half its diameter above the gravel bed. Vertical force correlated poorly with downstream velocity, vertical velocity, and vertical momentum flux whether measured over or ahead of the test particle. Typical formulas for shear-induced lift based on Bernoulli's principle poorly predict the vertical forces on near-bed particles. The measurements suggest that particle-scale pressure variations associated with turbulence are significant in the particle momentum balance. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗
USGS1988

Effects of variation in flow on distribution of northern squawfish ( Ptychocheilus oregonensis ) below McNary Dam on the Columbia River

The movements of 23 northern Squawfish Ptychocheilus oregonensis were monitored by radiotelemetry below a Columbia River hydroelectric dam during the out-migration of juvenile anadromous salmonids in 1984 and 1985. The work was done as part of a study to relate predator abundances and distribution to juvenile salmonid mortalities associated with dams. Northern Squawfish remained in protected shoreline areas in spring and early summer, when discharge rates were high, but moved close to the dam and the juvenile bypass outflow area in mid to late summer, when discharge rates were low. Trends in northern Squawfish movements were similar during abrupt changes in discharge rate. During short-term closures of the spillway, when flow patterns were abruptly changed, four of five northern Squawfish moved out of protected areas and into the main river channel. Surface water velocities at 81 locations occupied by radio-tagged northern Squawfish in June to August 1985 ranged from 0 to 70 cm/s (mean, 24.5 cm/s). No preference within this range was evident, but the fish seemingly avoided areas of high current velocity, because they did not move into a substantial portion of the tailrace where water velocities exceeded 100 cm/s. Modification of structures to maintain high water velocities around bypass outflow areas should reduce potential predation on juvenile salmonids by northern squawfish.

Oregon, Washington↗
USGS2013

Air - water temperature relationships in the trout streams of southeastern Minnesota’s carbonate - sandstone landscape

Carbonate-sandstone geology in southeastern Minnesota creates a heterogeneous landscape of springs, seeps, and sinkholes that supply groundwater into streams. Air temperatures are effective predictors of water temperature in surface-water dominated streams. However, no published work investigates the relationship between air and water temperatures in groundwater-fed streams (GWFS) across watersheds. We used simple linear regressions to examine weekly air-water temperature relationships for 40 GWFS in southeastern Minnesota. A 40-stream, composite linear regression model has a slope of 0.38, an intercept of 6.63, and R 2 of 0.83. The regression models for GWFS have lower slopes and higher intercepts in comparison to surface-water dominated streams. Regression models for streams with high R 2 values offer promise for use as predictive tools for future climate conditions. Climate change is expected to alter the thermal regime of groundwater-fed systems, but will do so at a slower rate than surface-water dominated systems. A regression model of intercept vs . slope can be used to identify streams for which water temperatures are more meteorologically than groundwater controlled, and thus more vulnerable to climate change. Such relationships can be used to guide restoration vs . management strategies to protect trout streams.

Minnesota↗
USGS1970

Annotated bibliography on artificial recharge of ground water, 1955-67

Artificial ground-water recharge has become more important as water use by agriculture, industry, and municipalities increases. Water management agencies are increasingly interested in potential use of recharge for pollution abatement, waste-water disposal, and re-use and reclamation of locally available supplies. Research projects and theoretical analyses of operational recharge systems show increased scientific emphasis on the practice. Overall ground-water basin management systems generally now contain considerations of artificial recharge, whether by direct or indirect methods. Artificial ground-water recharge is a means of conserving surface runoff for future use in places where it would otherwise be lost, of protecting ground-water basins from salt-water encroachment along coastal areas, and of storing and distributing imported water. The biblio-graphy emphasizes technology; however, annotations of articles on waste-water reclamation, ground-water management and ground-water basin management are included. Subjects closely related to artificial recharge, including colloidal flow through porous media, field or laboratory instrumentation, and waste disposal by deep well injection are included where they specifically relate to potential recharge problems. Where almost the same material has been published in several journals, all references are included on the assumption that some publications may be more readily available to interested persons than others. Other publications, especially those of foreign literature, provided abstracts that were used freely as time limitations precluded obtaining and annotating all materials. Abstracts taken from published sources are noted. These are: "Abstracts of North American Geology," U.S. Department of the Interior, Geological Survey; "Abstracts of Recent Published Material on Foil and Water Conservation," ARS-41 series, Agricultural F.esearch Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture; "Water and1 Water Engineering," published by Fuel and Metallurgical Journals, Ltd., London, England; "Journal of Geophysical Research," American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C.; "American Society of Civil Engineers Transactions," New York; "Selected Bibliography of Hydrology, United Kingdom, for the Years 1955-59," International Association of Scientific Hydrology; "Water Wells, an Annotated Bibliography," California University Water Resources Center Archives Report 13; "Re-use of Effluent in the Future With an Annotated Bibliography," by G. A. Whetstone, Texas Water Development Board Report 8, Austin, Tex.; "Journal of Water Pollution Control Federation," Washington, D.C.; and "A List of Selected Technical References on Artificial Recharge of Ground-Water Reservoirs," compiled by Roy W. Graves, Tulsa University, Information Services Department, Tulsa, Okla. Other notations are self-explanatory, and initials are those of the authors (DCS, DJG, WK). An unpublished compilation of recharge references by Arnon Arad sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization during a training period with the U.S. Geological Survey was also used. The bibliography is arranged alphabetically by author. Where an author has more than one publication, the arrangement is chronological; where an author has more than one publication in a given year, a, b, c, . . . are added. The indexing is by subject and geographic location. Each article was assigned the key words or phrases to best characterize its contents. Units of measure are as they were in the original article; abbreviations retained are generally those in common use such as mg/1 (milligrams per liter), ppm (parts per million), gpm (gallons per minute), km (kilometers), m (meters), cu m per hr (cubic meters p^r hour), cfs (cubic feet per second), me/1 (milliequivalents per liter), psi (pounds per square inch), BOD (biochemical oxygen demand), sq m (square meters), gpd (gallons per day), and mgd (million gallons per day). The bibliography was prepared because of the worldwide interest in the field of artificial recharge and the need for a single source of references to the literature published since 1954. The work is a sequel to the "Annotated Bibliography on Artificial Recharge of Ground Water Through 1954," by D. K. Todd, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1477, published in 1959.

Water Supply Paper↗
USGS2022

Evaluation of select velocity measurement techniques for estimating discharge in small streams across the United States

Multiple instruments and methods exist for collecting discrete streamflow measurements in small streams with low flows, defined here as less than 5.7 m 3 /s (200 ft3/s). Included in the available methods are low-cost approaches that are infrequently used, in part, because their uncertainty is not well known. In this work, we evaluated the accuracy and suitability of three low-cost velocity measurement methods (surface float [SF], velocity head rod [VR], and rising body [RB]) and three conventional current meters (acoustic Doppler velocimeter, and mechanical Price type AA and Price Pygmy meters) relative to discharge calculated from stable artificial hydraulic controls. A total of 231 measurements were made by 20 individuals during 88 site visits to 24 sites in eight states. Accuracies were assessed for all methods and precision was evaluated for the low-cost methods. The median percent error was below 5% for conventional methods, and below 20% for the low-cost methods. The SF was the most accurate (median absolute percent error 14%) and precise (mean percent precision of 11%) low-cost method. The RB and VR, respectively, had 15% and 20% median absolute percent error and 29% and 12% mean percent precision. Results suggest that low-cost methods, when used appropriately, can be used to estimate discharge data under low flow conditions when measurements with conventional methods are not feasible and the associated accuracies meet end-user measurement objectives.

continental United States↗
USGS2020

Carbon dioxide-induced mortality of four species of North American fishes

Fisheries managers have a growing interest in the use of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) as a tool for controlling invasive fishes. However, limited published data exist on susceptibility of many commonly encountered species to elevated CO 2 concentrations. Our objective was to estimate the 24-h 50% lethal concentration (LC 50 ) and 95% lethal concentration (LC 95 ) of CO 2 for four fishes (Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss , Common Carp Cyprinus carpio , Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus , and Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi ). In the laboratory, we exposed juvenile fish to a range of CO 2 concentrations for 24 h in unpressurized, flow-through tanks. We developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate the dose-response relationship for each fish species with associated uncertainty, and estimated 24-h LC 50 and LC 95 values based on laboratory trials for each species. The minimum concentration inducing mortality differed among cold water–adapted species and warm water–adapted species groups: 150 mg CO 2 /L for Westslope Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout and 225 mg CO 2 /L for Common Carp and Channel Catfish. We observed complete mortality at 275 mg CO 2 /L (38,672 microatmospheres [μatm]), 225 mg CO 2 /L (30,711 μatm), and 495 mg CO 2 /L (65,708 μatm [Common Carp]; 77,213 μatm [Channel Catfish]) for Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Rainbow Trout, and both Common Carp and Channel Catfish, respectively. There was evidence of a statistical difference between the 24-h LC 95 values of Westslope Cutthroat Trout and Rainbow Trout (245.0 [222.2–272.2] and 190.6 [177.2–207.8] mg CO 2 /L, respectively). Additionally, these values were almost half the estimated 24-h LC 95 values for Common Carp and Channel Catfish (422.5 [374.7–474.5] and 434.2 [377.2–492.2] mg CO 2 /L, respectively). Although the experimental findings show strong relationships between increased CO 2 concentration and higher mortality, additional work is required to assess the efficacy and feasibility of a CO 2 application in a field setting.

Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management↗
USGS2026

Biocrust and seed placement influence emergence rates of perennial grass Elymus elymoides across five North American deserts

1. Dryland vascular plant emergence is often limited by water availability especially with projected climate and precipitation changes. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts) can promote water retention and nutrient availability that benefit germination, and emergence yet can also act as a surface barrier preventing critical seed soil contact and hindering emergence. Alongside these factors, dryland fire frequency has increased with the inclusion of invasive species and vegetation structural changes. With enhanced continuous fine fuel distribution there is a high potential to disrupt biocrust-plant interactions and influence associated management actions. 2. This study explores the dynamic relationship between biocrusts and fire-related heating effects on seedling emergence across five North American deserts: the Chihuahuan Desert, Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert. We conducted a greenhouse-based seedling emergence experiment using Elymus elymoides (bottlebrush squirreltail), a common perennial grass, with biocrust and bare soil mesocosms in which half were heated to mimic the effects of wildfire temperature. 3. The variables that had the greatest influence on germination rate and germination timing were the presence of biocrust and seed placement (on top of vs within the biocrust/soil matrix). Emergence rate was greatest atop bare soil followed by seeds inserted into biocrust. Emergence timing was faster with biocrust present, but only when seeds were inserted into it. Desert origin of biocrust and soil collection also influenced germination where the probability of any one seed emerging was highest in the Chihuahuan and Mojave desert sites relative to the Sonoran desert site which showed the lowest probability. Heating had mixed effects whereby it increased the likelihood of emergence but did not affect the overall rate or timing. 4. Synthesis and applications . This study underscores the importance of healthy and impaired biocrusts in dryland systems and suggests ways in which the combination of biocrust and seed placement can influence plant establishment, in addition to providing insight into seeding strategies for managers and restoration practitioners working in dryland sites.

Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico↗
USGS2007

Spatial variability in water-balance model performance in the conterminous United States

A monthly water-balance (WB) model was tested in 44 river basins from diverse physiographic and climatic regions across the conterminous United States (U.S.). The WB model includes the concepts of climatic water supply and climatic water demand, seasonality in climatic water supply and demand, and soil-moisture storage. Exhaustive search techniques were employed to determine the optimal set of precipitation and temperature stations, and the optimal set of WB model parameters to use for each basin. It was found that the WB model worked best for basins with: (1) a mean elevation less than 450 meters or greater than 2000 meters, and/or (2) monthly runoff that is greater than 5 millimeters (mm) more than 80 percent of the time. In a separate analysis, a multiple linear regression (MLR) was computed using the adjusted R-square values obtained by comparing measured and estimated monthly runoff of the original 44 river basins as the dependent variable, and combinations of various independent variables [streamflow gauge latitude, longitude, and elevation; basin area, the long-term mean and standard deviation of annual precipitation; temperature and runoff; and low-flow statistics (i.e., the percentage of months with monthly runoff that is less than 5 mm)]. Results from the MLR study showed that the reliability of a WB model for application in a specific region can be estimated from mean basin elevation and the percentage of months with gauged runoff less than 5 mm. The MLR equations were subsequently used to estimate adjusted R-square values for 1,646 gauging stations across the conterminous U.S. Results of this study indicate that WB models can be used reliably to estimate monthly runoff in the eastern U.S., mountainous areas of the western U.S., and the Pacific Northwest. Applications of monthly WB models in the central U.S. can lead to uncertain estimates of runoff.

Conterminous United States↗