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Surface Water Data Program

Project Chief: Cory Angeroth, USGS Salt Lake City, UT
Cooperators:
Period of Project: continuous

Problem

Surface-water information is needed for purposes of surveillance, planning, design, hazard warning, operation, and management, in water-related fields such as water supply, hydroelectric power, flood control, irrigation, bridge and culvert design, wildlife management, pollution abatement, flood-plain management, and water resources development. To provide this information an appropriate data base is necessary.

Objectives

The objectives of this project are two-fold. One aspect of this study is the collection of surface-water data sufficient to satisfy needs for current-purpose uses such as (1) assessment of water resources, (2) operation of reservoirs or industries, (3) forecasting, (4) pollution controls and disposal of wastes, (5) discharge data to accompany water-quality measurements, (6) compact and legal requirements, and (7) research or special studies. This project is also conducted to collect data necessary for analytical studies to define for any location the statistical properties of, and trends in, the occurrence of water in streams, lakes, estuaries, etc., for use in planning and design.

Relevance and Benefits

An important part of the USGS mission is to provide scientific information to manage the water resources of the Nation. To effectively assess the Nation's surface-water resources, the USGS operates more than 7,000 streamgaging stations, monitors lakes and reservoirs, makes periodic flow measurements on rivers and streams using standardized methods, and maintains the data from these stations in a national data base. Surface-water data are needed to develop information about flow and stage that can be used by a variety of individuals and agencies for the planning and management of diverse water-resources projects and programs including flood warning; flood assessment; reservoir operations; monitoring water-quality and setting water-quality standards; designing infrastructure such as bridges, culverts, and dams; evaluating the effects of changing land use; detecting long-term changes in climate; and administering compacts, decrees, and (or) treaties on interstate and international bodies of water. The streamgaging stations, and lake and reservoir monitoring stations operated in this State are an integral part of the nationwide surface-water data program.

Approach

Standard methods of data collection will be used as described in the series, "Techniques of Water Resources Investigations of the United States Geological Survey." Partial-record gagging will be used instead of complete-record gagging where it serves the required purpose.

Products

NWIS real-time surface-water data: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ut/nwis/current/?type=flow