Sampling Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Urban Environmental Settings

NAWQA assessed the occurrence, distribution, and status of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the Nation's shallow ground water during Cycle I by sampling 652 monitoring wells in urban areas between 1996 and 2002. Well networks were installed primarily in new residential/commercial areas less than about 30 years old (17 urban land-use studies) and in small towns (2 studies). Ground-water samples were analyzed for 50 VOCs. In addition, water samples for VOC analysis were collected from 65 urban stream sites nationally.

In Cycle II (2002-2012), NAWQA will re-sample shallow ground-water wells for VOCs at a subset of urban land-use studies.

The stream-sites map and table include only urban fixed sites. An urban fixed site is a surface-water site where streamflow is measured and samples are collected and analyzed for various chemical, physical, and biological characteristics. Combined, such sites are used to assess broad-scale spatial and temporal variation at the sites in relation to hydrologic conditions and environmental setting. Maps include urban and mixed-urban sites. Mixed urban sites are stream sampling sites located at an outlet of a drainage basin that contains multiple land uses, including urban.

Maps showing past and current urban VOCs studies:

• Cycle I Stream sites
• Cycle I Ground-water sites

VOCs data overview tables:

• Cycle I Stream sites
• Cycle I Ground-water sites
• Cycle II Ground-water sites

Publications concerning VOCs in urban areas:
Publications List

For specific data related to such studies:
Go to the NAWQA data warehouse

For more information regarding NAWQA VOC studies:
USGS VOCs website