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.

Objective
     A. to collect 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) disposal of wastes and pollution controls, 5) discharge data to accompany water-quality measurements, 6) compact and legal requirements, and 7) research or special studies.  
     B. 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. The data are made available on the World Wide Web (WWW), and are published for each State annually. Much of the data also is available on a near real-time basis to cooperators, customers and the public on the WWW, which is critical for the effective management of the Nation's water resources. 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 gaging will be used instead of complete-record gaging where it serves the required purpose.