United States Geological Survey (USGS): Water Resources of Florida

USGS Florida Science Highlights

Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory

The Carbonate Aquifer Characterization Laboratory (CACL) was initiated to promote collaborative research on carbonate aquifer characterization between the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Florida Water Science Center (Davie office) and other governmental scientific agencies and academia. And, also to provide applied research for local, state, and federal agencies, and private industry, when research needs are within the scope of the USGS mission.

As the primary Federal science agency for water-resources information, the USGS is responsible for monitoring the quantity and quality of water in the Nation's rivers and aquifers and assessing the sources and fate of contaminants in aquatic systems. Towards this goal, a top priority for the USGS is to provide information to better define and manage the quality of the Nation's water resources. The CACL directly addresses this priority issue for the USGS by improving strategies to identify and protect drinking-water sources. The approach of the CACL is focused on the integration of the various disciplines that include core examination, sequence stratigraphy, borehole geophysics, digital optical borehole imaging, seismic, ground-penetrating radar, computational methods (eg., Lattice Boltzmann methods), and 3D geomodeling.
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Gages Remain Unfunded

Notice: (March 8, 2013)-- 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 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 budgets fluctuations occur, the network is impacted.

Budget shortfalls at all levels of government have caused reductions in the amount of hydrologic data collected in Florida. As of October 1, 2011, 313 USGS stream, lake, rainfall, water quality, and groundwater monitoring sites have been discontinued, and there are 18 sites scheduled to be discontinued between March 31 and September 30, 2013 unless alternate sources of funding are identified.

For a map of discontinued sites, go to Florida discontinued stations. Although historic data for these sites will remain accessible through this web site, no new data will be collected by the USGS. For some sites, data collection has been taken over by other agencies and new data may be available through them. If you have questions about any of these stations, please contact Richard Kane of the USGS Florida Water Science Center (813-498-5057, rkane@usgs.gov).

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