Welcome to the USGS New England Water Science Center - New Hampshire/Vermont Office website. We are proud to be part of the Nation's premier earth and biological science agency, providing the hydrologic data, investigative studies, and research needed for the characterization and management of water resources in our two States. With a cadre of nearly 40 scientists, technicians, and support staff in our Pembroke, N.H., and Montpelier, Vt., offices, we work in cooperation with many Federal, State, and local agencies to evaluate the source, distribution, use, quantity, quality, and biology of water resources.
A Decade of Water Science: USGS Helps Assess Water Resources in Afghanistan
Released: 8/19/2014
For the past decade, scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey have shared their expertise with the Afghanistan Geological Survey (AGS) in efforts to build an inventory of Afghanistan’s water resources. A new fact sheet details how these efforts help the country quantify and monitor its water resource.
”This partnership with the Afghanistan Geological Survey and other international agencies is extremely important for Afghanistan,” said Jack Medlin, USGS regional specialist, Asia and Pacific Region. ”There’s a broad consensus that water availability is a global issue, and these collaborative efforts created the data collection networks necessary to help quantify water conditions in the region and manage future water supplies.”
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Well-Water for 80,000 New Hampshire Residents May contain Metals Exceeding Human Health Standards
Released: 6/16/2014
Nearly three-in-ten well-water samples tested from southeast New Hampshire contained metals at concentrations that exceeded U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking-water standards and guidelines, according to a recent U.S. Geological Survey study.
Researchers sampled water from 232 private bedrock wells from 2012 to 2013, testing for levels of arsenic, uranium, manganese, iron and lead.
”Our study showed that a significant percentage of the population that relies on domestic bedrock wells may have drinking water with arsenic, lead, manganese, and (or) uranium concentrations greater than human-health standards established by the EPA for public-water systems,” said hydrologist Sarah Flanagan, lead author of the study.
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USGS Publications
Open–File Report 2016–1200
Medalie, Laura, 2016, Concentration, flux, and trend estimates with uncertainty for nutrients, chloride, and total suspended solids in tributaries of Lake Champlain, 1990–2014: U.S. Geological Survey Open–File Report 2016–1200, 22 p.
Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5060
Flynn, R.H., and Hayes, Laura, 2016, Flood–inundation maps for Lake Champlain in Vermont and in northern Clinton County, New York: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5060, 11 p.
Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5009
Flynn, R.H., Rydlund, P.H., Jr., and Martin, D.J., 2016, Network global navigation satellite system surveys to harmonize American and Canadian datums for the Lake Champlain Basin: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2016–5009, 17 p.
Professional Paper 1821
Suro, T.P., Roland, M.A., and Kiah, R.G., 2015, Flooding in the Northeastern United States, 2011: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1821, 32 p.
Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5077
Olson, S.A., 2015, Flood maps for the Winooski River in Waterbury, Vermont, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5077, 25 p.
Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5056
Olson, S.A., 2015, Flood recovery maps for the White River in Bethel, Stockbridge, and Rochester, Vermont, and the Tweed River in Stockbridge and Pittsfield, Vermont, 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5056, 32 p.
Open–File Report 2015–5047
Stillings, L.L., Mack, T.J., Chornack, M.P., Kalaly, S.S., Ahmadi, M.I., and Akbar, A.Q., 2015, A summary of data collected by the U.S. Geological Survey at Dasht–e–Nawar, Afghanistan, in support of lithium exploration, June–September 2014
Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5047
Bjerklie, D.M., Ayotte, J.D., and Cahillane, M.J., 2015, Simulating hydrologic response to climate change scenarios in four selected watersheds of New Hampshire: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2015–5047, 53 p.
Circular 1352
Warner, K.L., and Ayotte, J.D., 2014, The quality of our Nation’s waters—Water quality in the glacial aquifer system, northern United States, 1993–2009: U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1352, 116 p.
Journal Articles
Sarah M. Flanagan , Joseph P. Levitt, and Joseph D. Ayotte, 2017, Trends in Methyl tert–Butyl Ether Concentrations in Private Wells in Southeast New Hampshire: 2005 to 2015: Environmental Science and Technology, 13 p., doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b04149.
Dalsu Baris; Richard Waddell; Laura E. Beane Freeman; Molly Schwenn; Joanne S. Colt; Joseph D. Ayotte; Mary H. Ward; John Nuckols; Alan Schned; Brian Jackson; Castine Clerkin; Nathaniel Rothman; Lee E. Moore; Anne Taylor; Gilpin Robinson; GM Monawar Hosain; Karla R. Armenti; Richard McCoy; Claudine Samanic; Robert N. Hoover; Joseph F. Fraumeni Jr.; Alison Johnson; Margaret R. Karagas; Debra T. Silverman, 2016, Elevated Bladder Cancer in Northern New England: The Role of Drinking Water and Arsenic: JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2016 108 (9): djw099
James R. Degnan, John Karl Bohlke, Krystle Pelham, David M. Langlais, and Gregory J. Walsh, 2015, Identification of groundwater nitrate contamination from explosives used in road construction: Isotopic, chemical, and hydrologic evidence: Environmental Science and Technology, doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b03671. (PDF file)
Joseph D. Ayotte, Yan Zheng, 2014, At the crossroads: Hazard assessment and reduction of health risks from arsenic in private well waters of the northeastern United States and Atlantic Canada: Science of The Total Environment, Volume 505, pages 1237–1247, doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2014.10.089
Xun Shi, Joseph D. Ayotte, Akikazu Onda, Stephanie Miller, Judy Rees, Diane Gilbert-Diamond, Tracy Onega, Jiang Gui, Margaret Karagas, John Moeschler, 2014, Geospatial association between adverse birth outcomes and arsenic in groundwater in New Hampshire, USA: Environmental Geochemistry and Health, doi: 10.1007/s10653-014-9651-2
Cooperator publications
Betanzo, E.A., Hagen, E.R., Wilson, J.T., Reckhow, K.H., Hayes, Laura, Argue, D.M., and Cangelosi, A.A., 2016, Water data to answer urgent water policy questions: Monitoring design, available data and filling data gaps for determining whether shale gas development activities contaminate surface water or groundwater in the Susquehanna River Basin, Northeast-Midwest Institute Report, 238 p. http://www.nemw.org/nemwi-susquehanna-river-basin-shale-gas-development-study-report-files/
