USGS New England Water Science Center, Connecticut Office

USGS to Discontinue Streamgages Due to Sequestration: The U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) will discontinue operation of up to 375 streamgages nationwide due to budget cuts as a result of sequestration. Additional streamgages may be affected if partners reduce their funding to support USGS streamgages. The USGS is working to identify which streamgages will be impacted and when, and will post this information as it becomes available. Streamgages are used nationwide to predict and address drought and flood conditions by monitoring water availability. The USGS and over 850 Federal, State, and local agencies cooperatively fund the USGS streamgaging network, which consists of over 8,000 streamgages. When budget fluctuations occur, the network is impacted.

For more information contact Virginia de Lima at 860-291-6741 or vdelima@usgs.gov.

Welcome to the USGS New England Water Science Center, Connecticut Office. These pages are your source for water-resource information collected and interpreted by the U.S. Geological Survey in Connecticut.

Current Streamflow Conditions Maps

Current streamflow conditions in Connecticut; click to go to a live map.

USGS Water Alert sends email or text messages when certain parameters measured by a USGS data-collection station exceed user-definable thresholds.

USGS sends email response with real-time stream stage and flow data for the USGS station (site) number in subject line of your email request.

iNWS provides text messaging alerts from the National Weather Service for weather and hydrology.

In the Spotlight

USGS work in the Connecticut River Basin

http://ct.water.usgs.gov/Blueways-USGS.pdf
The Connecticut River was designated as the first National Blueway, as part of the American Great Outdoors program. The Departments of Interior and Agriculture and the Corps of Engineers will be working together, sharing information on the work they do and the resources they can bring to the watershed. Follow the link for a summary of all the USGS work in the Connecticut River Basin.

Connecticut StreamStats.

StreamStats is a Web-based Geographic Information Systems application for use in water resources planning and mangement, and in engineering design. It computes streamflow statistics (e.g. 100-year flood, the mean annual flow, the 7-day, 10-year low flow) and basin characteristics (e.g. drainage area, soil properties, mean annual precipitation) for ungaged sites faster, more accurately, and more consistently than manual methods. See http://water.usgs.gov/osw/streamstats/connecticut.html

WiM Hurricane Irene mapper tracks storm surge and flooding

The USGS Wisconsin Internet Mapping group developed the Hurricane Irene Storm Surge Tracking Map to provide up-to-date information for emergency responders. Storm surge and wave heights and site photos are available at http://wim.usgs.gov/stormtidemapper/stormtidemapper.html# In addition, during the storm event, the map linked to real-time streamflow and tidal data.

Hurricane Sandy Links

http://ct.water.usgs.gov/projects/Sandy/Sandy.htm

NWIS Mapper

Looking for a new way to access water data? This Google Maps interface quickly provides a map view of the sites with USGS water data. Simply zoom into your area of interest, check the boxes for the data you want, and click on your site. For more information on how to use NWIS Mapper visit http://wdr.water.usgs.gov/nwisgmap/instructions.html .

SPARROW Decision Support Tool

SPARROW (SPAtially Referenced Regressions On Watershed attributes) is a watershed modeling technique for relating water-quality measurements made at a network of monitoring stations to attributes of the watersheds such as contaminant sources and environmental factors that affect rates of delivery to streams and in-stream processing. The models are documented in the report SPARROW MODELING—Enhancing Understanding of the Nation’s Water Quality

Featured Projects

Evaluation of the Effects of Sewering on Nitrogen Loads to the Niantic River, Connecticut

Areal view of Pine Grove, Connecticut

The Niantic River Basin is a developed coastal basin (28 mi²) in Connecticut underlain by glacial stratified deposits in the valley bottom, and glacial till over bedrock in upland areas. Currently, the Niantic River is the first embayment where eelgrass is present in Long Island Sound, when moving from west (New York City Area) to east. Therefore, the Niantic River is currently thought to have marginal water quality with respect to eelgrass habitat

Assessment of Chloride in Watersheds along I-95, Southeastern Connecticut

Taking samples back for analysis

The USGS is conducting a 3-yr monitoring program in cooperation with the Federal Highway Association (FHWA) and the Connecticut Department of Transportation (ConnDOT) to determine chloride concentrations and loads from streams that intersect I-95. Chloride, temperature, and specific conductance are measured upstream and downstream of I-95 at four watersheds in southeastern Connecticut -- Four Mile River, Oil Mill Brook, Stony Brook, and Jordan Brook.

Highlighted Publications

The Connecticut Water Science Center produces publications about water resources.

Data Series Report 705
Mercury Bioaccumulation Studies in the National Water-Quality Assessment Program—Biological Data From New York and South Carolina, 2005–2009

Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5077
Integrated Watershed-Scale Response to Climate Change for Selected Basins Across the United States

Open-File Report 2012-1025
Preliminary Investigation of the Effects of Sea-Level Rise on Groundwater Levels in New Haven, Connecticut

Fact Sheet 2011-3122
Watershed Scale Response to Climate Change—Pomperaug River Watershed, Connecticut

Fact-Sheet 2010-3002
Assessing the vulnerability of public-supply wells to contamination - Glacial aquifer system in Woodbury, Connecticut

Open File Report 2011-1018
Preliminary assessment of chloride concentrations, loads, and yields in selected watersheds along the Interstate 95 corridor, southeastern Connecticut, 2008-09

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