Selected USGS Groundwater Publications

• • Recent Publications
  • Introductory Documents on Groundwater Hydrology
  • National Overviews
  • Circulars
  • Fact Sheets
  • Training & Methods Documents
  • Conference Proceedings
  • Groundwater Modeling and Hydraulics
  • Data Collection
  • Water Use
  • Links to Additional USGS Publications

New & Noteworthy

 March 10-16: National Groundwater Awareness Week

 Fact Sheet: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

  Annotated List of Classic Pre-1980 USGS Groundwater Papers on Quantitative Groundwater-Flow Analysis

  WaterNow: Get current water conditions by text or email

 Groundwater's Greater Role in Waterways Demonstrated in Virginia

  Circular: Streamflow Depletion By Wells: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow

 MODPATH v6 released

USGS Groundwater Watch

USGS maintains a network of active wells to provide basic statistics about groundwater levels.

USGS in Your State

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Other USGS Water Science Areas

 Water Resources

 Water Quality

 Water Use

 Surface Water

Selected USGS Groundwater Publications

Recent Groundwater Publications

• Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow (Fact Sheet)
• Streamflow Depletion By Wells: Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow
• Groundwater Technical Procedures of the USGS
• WTAQ Version 2 — Computer program for calculating drawdowns and estimating hydraulic properties for confined and water-table aquifers
• PHAST v.2: Simulating Groundwater Flow, Solute Transport, and Multicomponent Geochemical Reactions (TM 6-A35)

Introductory Documents on Groundwater Hydrology

• Ground Water (General Interest Publication)
• The Water Cycle (Water Science Basics Web Site)
• Basic ground-water hydrology (WSP 2220), by Ralph C. Heath
• Ground Water and the Rural Homeowner (General Interest Publication)
• What Is Ground Water (OFR 93-643)
• Ground Water And Surface Water: A Single Resource (Circular 1139)
• Aquifer Basics (Web site)
• Glossaries for Water Resources Terms

National Overviews

• Ground Water Atlas of the United States
• Aquifer Maps on the National Atlas
  (Printed wall map, 1:7,500,000 and spatial data sets, 1:2,500,000)
  • Principal Aquifers of the United States
  • Aquifers of Alluvial and Glacial Origin
• Bibliography of Regional aquifer system analysis (RASA) studies, 1978-96 (WRIR 97-4074)
• Flow and Storage in Groundwater Systems (from Science Magazine, June 14, 2002)
• A Brief History of Contributions to Ground Water Hydrology by the USGS (from Ground Water, July-August, 2004)
• Strategic Directions for the U.S. Geological Survey Ground-Water Resources Program - A Report to Congress (1998)

USGS Circulars

USGS Circulars are directed at general or scientific audiences and present short summaries or articles of short-term, popular, or local interest.

• Streamflow Depletion By Wells -- Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow (Circular 1376)
• Estimated Water Use in the U.S. in 2005 (Circular 1344)
• Ground-Water Availability in the United States (Circular 1323)
• Water Budgets: Foundations for Effective Water-Resources and Environmental Management (Circular 1308)
• Estimated Withdrawals From Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000 (Circular 1279)
• Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000 (Circular 1268)
• Ground Water in Freshwater-Saltwater Environments of the Atlantic Coast (Circular 1262)
• Heat as a tool for studying the movement of ground water near streams (Circular 1260)
• Evolving issues and practices in managing ground-water resources - Case studies on the role of science (Circular 1247)
• Water in storage and approaches to ground-water management, High Plains Aquifer, 2000 (Circular 1243)
• Assessing Ground-Water Vulnerability To Contamination: Providing Scientifically Defensible Information For Decision Makers (Circular 1224)
• Report to Congress -- Concepts for National Assessment of Water Availability and Use (Circular 1223)
• Ground-water resources of the Middle Rio Grande Basin, New Mexico (Circular 1222)
• Ground-Water-Level Monitoring and the Importance of Long-Term Water-Level Data (Circular 1217)
• Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 1995 (Circular 1200)
• Sustainability of ground-water resources (Circular 1186)
• Land Subsidence in the United States (Circular 1182)
• Estimating Areas Contributing Recharge to Wells -- Lessons from Previous Studies (Circular 1174)
• Ground Water And Surface Water: A Single Resource (Circular 1139)
• Summary of selected computer programs produced by the USGS for simulation of ground-water flow and quality - 1994 (Circular 1104)
  • Updates to USGS Circular 1104 (Updated 8/29/07)

USGS Fact Sheets

USGS Water-Resources Fact Sheets are concise and timely publications that describe programs, projects, products, and water-resources topics to either a general or professional audience.

• Understanding and Managing the Effects of Groundwater Pumping on Streamflow (Fact Sheet 2013-3001)
• USGS Groundwater Modeling Software: Making Sense of a Complex Natural Resource (Fact Sheet 2009-3105)

• Effects of Climate Variability and Change on Groundwater Resources of the U.S. (Fact Sheet 2009-3074)
• Ground-water recharge in humid areas of the United States (Fact Sheet 2007-3007)
• USGS Ground-Water Climate Response Network (Fact Sheet 2007-3003)
• USGS Ground-Water Resources Program (Fact Sheet 2005-3097)
• Use of Simulation-Optimization Modeling to Assess Regional Ground-Water Systems (Fact Sheet 2005-3095)
• Using temperature to study stream-ground water exchanges (Fact Sheet 2004-3010)
• Ground Water Depletion Across the Nation (Fact Sheet 103-03)
• Earthquakes - Rattling the Earth's Plumbing System (Fact Sheet 096-03)
• Desalination of Ground Water: Earth Science Perspectives (Fact Sheet 075-03)
• Measuring human-induced land subsidence from space (Fact Sheet 069-03)
• Fractured-rock aquifers - Understanding an increasingly important source of water (Fact Sheet 112-02)
• Real-time Ground-Water Data For The Nation (Fact Sheet 090-01)
• Land Subsidence in the United States (Fact Sheet 165-00)
• Desert Basins of the Southwest (Fact Sheet 086-00)
• Atlantic Coastal Zone (Fact Sheet 085-00)
• Tracing and dating young ground water (Fact Sheet 134-99)
• Modeling Ground-Water Flow with MODFLOW and Related Programs (Fact Sheet 121-97)

USGS Training and Methods Documents

Techniques and Methods Reports are directed at technically oriented audiences and present methods and techniques used in collecting, analyzing, and processing hydrologic data

• USGS Publications useful for education and training in ground-water hydrology (50KB PDF)
• USGS Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations (TWRI)
• USGS Techniques and Methods Reports (TM)
  • Groundwater Technical Procedures of the USGS

USGS Conference Proceedings

• USGS Karst Interest Group Proceedings, Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 27-29, 2008 (SIR 2008-5023)
• Subsidence Interest Group Conference, Proceedings of the Technical Meeting, Galveston, Texas, November 27-29, 2001 (OFR 03-308)
• USGS Artificial Recharge Workshop Proceedings, Sacramento, California, April 2-4, 2002 (OFR 02-89)
• Effects of Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) on Hydrologic Resources and the Environment -- Proceedings of the 1999 USGS conference (OFR 00-204)

Groundwater Modeling and Hydraulics

General

• Annotated List of Classic Pre-1980 USGS Groundwater Papers on Quantitative Groundwater-Flow Analysis
• Bennett, G., 1989, Introduction to Ground-Water Hydaulics - A Programmed Text for Self-Instruction (TWRI Book 3, Chapter 2)
  • "Introduction to Ground-Water Hydaulics" in the USGS Publications Warehouse
  • "Introduction to Ground-Water Hydaulics" [12MB PDF] modified to provide links within the document, for ease of use
• Barlow, P.M., and Harbaugh, A.W., 2006, USGS Directions in MODFLOW Development (Ground Water) (80KB PDF)
• Reilly, T.E., and Harbaugh, A.W., 2004, Guidelines for evaluating ground-water flow models (SIR2004-5038)
• Reilly, T.E., 2001, System And Boundary Conceptualization In Ground-Water Flow Simulation (TWRI Book 3, Chapter B8)
• Harbaugh, A.W., 2005, MODFLOW-2005, The U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model – the Ground-Water Flow Process (TM 6-A16)
• Ahlfeld, D.P., and others, 2005, GWM - A Ground-Water Management Process for the USGS Modular Ground-Water Model (OFR 2005-1072)
• Ahlfeld, D.P., and others, 2009, GWM-2005 — A Groundwater-Management Process for MODFLOW-2005 with Local Grid Refinement (LGR) capability

Aquifer Tests

• Barlow, P.M., and Moench, A.F., 1999, Computer program (WTAQ) for analysis of aquifer tests in confined and water-table aquifers (WRIR 99-4225)
• Day-Lewis, F.D. and others, 2011, A Computer Program for Flow-Log Analysis of Single Holes (FLASH)
• Halford, K.J.and Kuniansky, E.L., 2002, Spreadsheets for the Analysis of Aquifer-Test and Slug-Test Data (OFR 02-197)
• Barlow, P.M., and Moench, A.F., 2011, WTAQ Version 2 — Computer program for calculating drawdowns and estimating hydraulic properties for confined and water-table aquifers

MODFLOW Resources

• MODFLOW-2005 software and user guides
• MODFLOW-LGR software and user guides – MODFLOW-2005 with Local Grid Refinement Capability
• MODFLOW-2000 software and user guides
• Harbaugh, A.W., 2005, MODFLOW-2005, The U.S. Geological Survey modular ground-water model – the Ground-Water Flow Process (TM 6-A16)
• Ahlfeld, D.P. and others, 2011, Documentation for the State Variables Package for the Groundwater-Management Process of MODFLOW-2005 (GWM-2005) (TM 6-A36)
• Ahlfeld, D.P., and others, 2009, A Groundwater-Management Process for MODFLOW-2005 with Local Grid Refinement (LGR) capability (GWM-2005) (TM 6-A33)
• Konikow, L.F., and others, 2009, Revised Multi-Node Well (MNW2) Package for MODFLOW Ground-Water Flow Model (Techniques and Methods 6–A30)
• Langevin, C.D., and others, 2007, SEAWAT Version 4: A Computer Program for Simulation of Multi-Species Solute and Heat Transport (Techniques and Methods Book 6, Chapter A22)
• Shoemaker, W.B., and others, 2008, CFP - Conduit Flow Process for MODFLOW-2005 (Techniques and Methods 6-A24)
• Markstrom, S.L., and others, 2008, GSFLOW - Coupled Ground-water and Surface-water FLOW model based on the integration of the PRMS and MODFLOW-2005 (Techniques and Methods 6-D1)
• Schmid, Wolfgang, and Hanson R.T., 2009, The Farm Process Version 2 (FMP2) for MODFLOW-2005 - Modifications and Upgrades to FMP1 (TWRI Book 6, Chapter A32)

Data Collection

• Field Techniques for Estimating Water Fluxes Between Surface Water and Ground Water (Techniques and Methods 4-D2)
• A Quality-Assurance Plan for District Ground-Water Activities of the USGS (OFR 97-11)
• Ground-Water Data-Collection Protocols and Procedures for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program: Selection, Installation, and Documentation of Wells, and Collection of Related Data (OFR 95-398)
• Ground-Water Data-Collection Protocols and Procedures for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program: Collection and Documentation of Water-Quality Samples and Related Data (OFR 95-399)
• National Field Manual for the Collection of Water-Quality Data (TWRI Book 9 Section A)

Water Use

• Estimated Water Use in the U.S. in 2005 (Circular 1344) (See also Summary Fact Sheet or Data)
• Estimated Withdrawals From Principal Aquifers in the United States, 2000 (Circular 1279)
• Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 2000 (Circular 1268)
• Estimated Use of Water in the United States in 1995 (Circular 1200)
• Interagency Report: National Handbook of Recommended Methods for Water Data Acquisition -- Chapter 11 - Water Use
• Guidelines for preparation of State water-use estimates for 2000 (TM 4-4A)

Links to Additional USGS Publications

• USGS Maps, Imagery, and Publications
• USGS Publications Warehouse
• USGS Library
• Water-Resources Publications

To order U.S. Geological Survey Products call 1-888-ASK-USGS (1-888-275-8747) or learn more about ordering U.S. Geological Survey products

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