Water Resources of Nebraska

Real-Time Streamflow Sites

Welcome to the USGS Web page for the water resources of Nebraska. Here you'll find information on Nebraska's rivers and streams, ground water, water quality, and many other topics. The USGS operates the most extensive satellite network of stream-gaging stations in the state, many of which form the backbone of flood-warning systems.

The USGS provides current ("real-time") stream stage and streamflow, water-quality, and ground-water levels for over 130 sites in Nebraska.

Nebraska Water Science Center Highlights

USGS Announces New Ground-Water Level Network

The Active Ground-Water Level Network contains water levels and well information from more than 20,000 wells (4,300 of which are in Nebraska) that have been measured by the USGS or USGS cooperators at least once within the past 365 days. This network includes all of these wells, regardless of measurement frequency, aquifer monitored, or the monitoring objective.

The U.S. Geological Survey has a database/archive of about 850,000 wells across the Nation. Information about these wells is available to the world via NWISWeb. Through various ground-water programs, the USGS actively measures water levels in about 20,000 of these wells each year. These wells are measured for a variety of disparate purposes, such as statewide monitoring programs, or more local effects like monitoring well drawdown, hydrologic research, aquifer tests, or even earthquake effects on water levels.

There also are a variety of networks among these actively measured wells; a National Climate Response Network for wells, Regional Networks like the High Plains Aquifer Monitoring Program that are designed to monitor storage changes in the High Plains Aquifer, state-based networks that are designed to monitor statewide ground-water conditions, and local networks designed to monitor pumping effects.

 The Nebraska portion of the Active Ground-Water Level Network.