Water Resources
Announcing the National Water Dashboard!
Our new interactive, mobile-friendly tool provides real-time water, weather, and flood information all in one place
Explore the NWDData and Tools
The USGS Water Resources Mission Area provides water information that is fundamental to national and local economic well-being, protection of life and property, and effective management of the Nation’s water resources. Below, find data and tools relevant to a wide range of water resources and conditions including streamflow, groundwater, water quality, and water use and availability.
USGS Water Data for the Nation
Access to water data collected at approximately 1.9 million sites
Get dataNational Water Dashboard (NWD)
The National Water Dashboard (NWD) is a mobile, interactive tool that provides real-time information on water levels, weather, and flood forecasts - all in one place on a computer, smartphone, or other mobile device. The NWD presents real-time stream, lake and reservoir, precipitation, and groundwater data from more than 13,500 USGS observation stations across the country.
WaterWatch (surface water)
WaterWatch displays maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, recent, and past streamflow conditions for the United States, including flood and droughts. Real-time information generally is updated on an hourly basis.
Groundwater Watch
Groundwater Watch displays maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, recent, and historical groundwater data from wells and springs across the United States. Groundwater Watch groups related wells and data from active well networks and provides basic statistics about the water-level data collected by the USGS and from data supplied to us from partners through cooperative agreements.
WaterQualityWatch
WaterQualityWatch provides access to real-time water-quality data collected at more than 2,000 stream sites throughout the United States, including streamflow, water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and nitrate.
WaterNow
The USGS WaterNow service lets users receive current conditions for USGS water-data-collection stations on demand via email or cell-phone text message. The user sends an email or text message containing a USGS current-conditions gaging site number, and will quickly receive a reply with the station's most recent data for one or more of its monitored parameters.
WaterAlert
The U.S. Geological Survey WaterAlert service sends e-mail or text (SMS) messages when certain parameters, as measured by a USGS real-time data-collection station, exceed user-definable thresholds. The development and maintenance of the WaterAlert system is supported by the USGS and its partners, including numerous federal, state, and local agencies.
NWIS Current Water Data (Real-Time Data)
The USGS provides real-time or near-real-time conditions water data at sites across the Nation. Current data typically are recorded at 15- to 60-minute intervals, stored onsite, and then transmitted to USGS offices every 1 to 4 hours, depending on the data relay technique used. Recording and transmission times may be more frequent during critical events.
USGS Mobile Water Data
The USGS Mobile Water Data site highlights USGS current conditions water data in a mobile-friendly website, allowing users to monitor conditions at a favorite river or stream or locate nearby monitoring locations. All USGS current conditions water data is available.
Water science and management in the Delaware River Basin (data visualization story)
The Delaware River supports thriving ecosystems and drinking water for 16 million people. How water is shared, and the quality of that water, has been the focus of decades of inter-state discussion, negotiation, and research. This data visualization story uses streamflow, salinity, and temperature to show how new USGS science and monitoring can inform water management in this age of...
Aqueous and Solid Phase Chemistry of Sequestration and Re-oxidation of Chromium in Experimental Microcosms with Sand and Sediment from Hinkley, CA
Cr(VI) contaminated groundwater at Hinkley is undergoing bioremediation using added ethanol as a reductant in a volume of the aquifer defined as the In-situ Reduction Zone (IRZ). This treatment effectively reduces Cr(VI) to Cr(III) which is rapidly sequestered by sorption to aquifer particle surfaces and by co-precipitation within iron or manganese bearing minerals forming in plac
Geophysical and direct groundwater data collected on Palmyra Atoll to study fresh/saline groundwater interfaces from 2008 to 2019
The surface ecology of small ocean islands is directly linked to subsurface fresh water resources, which exist in the form of soil water and fresh groundwater lenses. The management of threaten plant species such as the tree Pisonia grandis needs to consider the spatial and temporal dynamics of groundwater lenses, particularly in a time of climate change. The Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife R...
Data from Decadal Change in Groundwater Quality Web Site, 1988-2018
Evaluating Decadal Changes in Groundwater Quality: Groundwater-quality data were collected from 5,000 wells between 1988-2001 (first decadal sampling event) by the National Water-Quality Assessment Project. Samples are collected in groups of 20-30 wells with similar characteristics called networks. About 1,500 of these wells in 67 networks were sampled again approximately 10 years later