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USGS1950

Chemical composition of Texas surface waters, 1949

This report is the fifth the a series of publications by the Texas Board of Water Engineers giving chemical analyses of the surface waters in the State of Texas. The samples for which data are given were collected between October 1, 1948 and September 30, 1949. During the water year 25 daily sampling stations were maintained by the Geological Survey. Sampled were collected less frequently during the year at many other points. Quality of water records for previous years can be found in the following reports: "Chemical Composition of Texas Surface Waters, 1938-1945," by W. W. Hastings, and J. H. Rowley; "Chemical Composition of Texas Surface Waters, 1946," by W. W. Hastings and B. Irelan; "Chemical Composition of Texas Surface Waters, 1947," by B. Irelan and J. R. Avrett; "Chemical Composition of Texas Surface Waters, 1948," by B. Irelan, D. E. Weaver, and J. R. Avrett. These reports may be obtained from the Texas Board of Water Engineers and Geological Survey at Austin, Texas. Samples for chemical analysis were collected daily at or near points on streams where gaging stations are maintained for measurement of discharge. Most of the analyses were made of 10-day composites of daily samples collected for a year at each sampling point. Three composite samples were usually prepared each month by mixing together equal quantities of daily samples collected for the 1st to the 10th, from the 11th to the 20th, and during the remainder of the month. Monthly composites were made at a few stations where variation in daily conductance was small. For some streams that are subject to sudden large changes in chemical composition, composite samples were made for shorter periods on the basis of the concentration of dissolved solids as indicated by measurement of specific conductance of the daily samples. The mean discharge for the composite period is reported in second-feet. Specific conductance values are expressed as "micromhos, K x 10 at 25° C." Silica, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, bicarbonate, sulfate, chloride, and nitrate are reported in parts per million. The quantity of dissolved solids is given in tons per acre-foot, tons per day (if discharge records are available), and parts per million. The total and non-carbonate hardness are reported as parts per million calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ). For those analyses where sodium and potassium are reported separately, "recent sodium" will include the equivalent quantity of sodium only. In analyses where sodium and potassium were calculated and reported as a combined value, the "percent sodium" will include the equivalent quantity of sodium and potassium. Weighted average analyses are given for most daily sampling stations. The weighted average analysis represent approximately the composition of water that would be found in a reservoir containing all the water passing a given station during the year after through mixing in the reservoir. Samples were analyzed according to method regularly used by the Geological Survey. These methods are essentially the same or are modifications of methods described in recognized authoritative publications for mineral analysis of water samples. These quality of water records have been collected as part of the cooperative investigations of the water resources of Texas conducted by the Geological Survey and the Texas Board of Water Engineers. Much of the work would have been impossible without the support of the following Federal State, and local agencies The United States Bureau of Reclamation, U. S. Corps of Engineers, Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District, Lower Colorado River Authority, Red Bluff Water Power Control District, City of Amarillo, City of Abilene, and City of Forth Worth. The investigations were under the firection of Burdge Irelan, District Chemist, Austin, Texas. Analyses of water samples were made by Clara J. Carter, Lee J. Freeman, Homer D. Smith, Dorothy M. Suttle, DeForrest E. Weaver, and Clarence T. Welborn. Calculations of weighted averages were made by James R. Avrett, Burdge Irelan, Dorothy M. Suttle, and DeForrest E. Weaver.

Texas↗

USGS1962

Aquifer-test compilation for the San Joaquin Valley, California

This report is the first of a series the purpose of which is to make available in standard tabular form the results of aquifer tests that have been made by various private and public agencies in California. The scope of the compilation is to describe systematically, in a form agreed upon by the California Department of Water Resources and the Geological Survey, the (1) test location, (2) pumping data, (3) well data, and (4) summary of results. The results of these tests sometimes have been published but most frequently have been used only as a step in obtaining other information, consequently the results and even the location of aquifer tests have not been readily available. This report has been prepared by the Geological Survey under the immediate supervision of Fred Kunkel, district geologist for California, in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources, and tabulates through October 1962 all tests analyzed by the Geological Survey for the San Joaquin Valley. The report is designed to be expanded when additional tests are analyzed or new tests are made.

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USGS1965

Aquifer-test compilation for northern California

This report is the fourth of a series, the purpose of which is to flake available, in standard tabulur form, the results of aquifer tests that have been made by various private and public agencies in California. The scope of the compilation is to describe systematically, in a form agreed upon by the California Department of Water Resources end. the Geological Survey, the (1) test location, (1) pumping data, (3) well data, and (4) summary of results. The results of these tests occasionally have been published, but usually they have been used only to obtain other information. Consequently, the results of aquifer tests have not always been readily available. This report was prepared by the U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Division, in cooperation with the California Department of Water Resources. It tabulates, through April 1965, the tests that were available for northern California.

California↗

USGS1981

E-field ratio telluric survey near the Big Maria Mountains, Riverside County, California

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) under the Wilderness Act (Public Law 88-577) and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (Public Law 94-579) has the responsibility, along with the U.S. Bureau of Mines, to survey certain areas in order to determine their mineral resource potential. This report presents results of three electric-field ratio telluric traverses conducted as part of the Bureau of Land Management Wilderness Program in the Big Maria Mountains, Riverside County, Calif. The telluric traverses were run on the southwest side of the Big Maria Mountains in an attempt to define the location of major buried faults near the eroded front of the range. E-field ratio tellurics is a descriptive name applied to the electrical exploration technique used in this survey. The telluric method refers to the measurement of the earth's electric field generated by induction from natural electromagnetic waves arriving at the surface. The E-field ratio telluric method uses a receiving array of three electrodes spaced equidistant and inline. This array is, in effect, two colinear dipoles sharing a common electrode. The potential difference across each dipole is then proportional to the component of the telluric field in the direction of the array. This configuration permits the measurement of the ratio of the telluric field at each dipole in the direction of the dipole line, and hence the name. The traverse data is extended by moving the three-electrode array forward one dipole length so that the forward electrode becomes the center electrode for the next ratio measurement. Electric-field data so obtained are proportional to the square root of the apparent resistivity of the earth at the location of the dipoles. However, because the apparent resistivity can be a function of the dipole direction, it is important to know the orientation of the dipoles with respect to major structures. Because the resistivity of fluid-saturated earth materials is largely dependent on the porosity of the rocks, the salinity of the pore fluid, and the presence of clays or similar material where surface conduction is high, alluvial fill, argillite and similar rocks tend to have low resistivities whereas igneous or high-grade metamorphic rocks have high resistivities. Variation in the electrical properties along a traverse may then be used to infer lithologic or structural changes.

California↗

USGS2018

The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator—A decision-support tool to estimate water availability at ungaged stream locations in Connecticut

Freshwater streams in Connecticut are subject to many competing demands, including public water supply; agricultural, commercial, and industrial water use; and ecosystem and habitat needs. In recent years, drought has further stressed Connecticut’s water resources. To sustainably allocate and manage water resources among these competing uses, Federal, State, and local water-resource managers require data and modeling tools to estimate the water availability at a variety of temporal and spatial scales for planning purposes. The Connecticut Streamflow and Sustainable Water Use Estimator (CT SSWUE), developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, is a decision-support tool for estimating daily unaltered streamflow and sustainable water use at ungaged sites in Connecticut. The CT SSWUE estimates unaltered daily mean streamflow and water-use-adjusted streamflow for the period from October 1, 1960, to September 30, 2015, and the monthly sustainable net withdrawal at ungaged sites in Connecticut. Unaltered streamflow is the estimated daily mean streamflow in a drainage basin in the absence of any water withdrawals or wastewater discharges and with minimal human development. Sustainable net withdrawal is the maximum net withdrawal (withdrawal minus wastewater discharges) that can be drawn from a basin without critically depleting the water available through natural streamflow patterns. Sustainable net withdrawal is defined for this study as the difference between the unaltered daily mean streamflow and a user-defined target minimum streamflow. Weighted least squares and Tobit regression techniques were used to develop equations for estimating streamflow at ungaged sites at 19 streamflow quantiles with exceedance probabilities ranging from 0.005 to 99.995 percent. Regressions were based on streamflow quantiles and basin characteristics from 36 reference streamgages in and around Connecticut. Four basin characteristics—drainage area, mean of the soil permeability, mean of the average annual precipitation, and ratio of the length of streams that overlay sand and gravel deposits to the total length of streams in the basin—are used as explanatory variables in the equations. At an ungaged site, interpolation between the streamflow quantiles estimated from the regression equations produces a continuous flow-duration curve. A time series of daily mean streamflow at an ungaged site is then estimated by assuming that for each day, the streamflow quantile occurs on the same date at both a reference streamgage and the ungaged site. In a remove-one cross validation, estimated unaltered daily mean streamflow agreed well with observed values at reference streamgages, with a few exceptions. Nash Sutcliffe efficiency ranged from −0.43 to 0.97 with a median value of 0.88. The normalized root-mean-square error ranged from 16.6 to 120.4 percent with a median value of 34.5 percent. An empirical method for estimating 95-percent prediction intervals for unaltered daily and monthly mean streamflow was developed and tested by using the cross-validation data. Prediction intervals for unaltered daily mean streamflow at the cross-validation reference streamgages performed well in most cases. Gaged streamflow values from the cross-validation data fell within the prediction intervals a median 96.6 percent of the time for daily mean time series and 93.9 percent of the time for monthly mean time series. The CT SSWUE computes water-use-adjusted streamflow using spatially referenced water-use information provided by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. Available water-use information included permitted and registered water withdrawals and permitted wastewater discharges during 1998 to 2015 for the Thames River Basin and central coastal drainage basins. Water-use information was incorporated into the U.S. Geological Survey StreamStats web application for Connecticut and can be used for computing water-use-adjusted streamflow and sustainable net withdrawal at selected points of interest. Altered daily streamflow is computed by applying average daily withdrawals and wastewater discharges to the water balance equation. Average daily surface water withdrawals and wastewater discharges are applied directly to the daily water balance equation. Time-lagged alterations on streamflow from groundwater withdrawals or wastewater discharges are estimated by using a response-coefficient method developed from results of previously published, calibrated groundwater models.

Connecticut↗

USGS2008

Chapter A6. Section 6.4. pH

Measurement of pH is critical to the understanding of the viability and vulnerability of environmental waters and is considered a master variable in determining the aqueous geochemistry of an aqueous system. pH is a measure that represents the hydrogen-ion concentration (activity) of a solution. This section of the National Field Manual (NFM) describes U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) guidance and protocols for measurement of pH in ground and surface waters. Each chapter of the National Field Manual is published separately and revised periodically. Newly published and revised chapters will be announced on the USGS Home Page on the World Wide Web under 'New Publications of the U.S. Geological Survey.'