Past News... (2010)

Geography Awareness Week 2010: Freshwater.

11/15/2010 -- Learn about freshwater Earth’s most precious natural resource during Geography Awareness Week 2010. Although the water cycle diagram shows the distribution of the Earth’s water continually in flux, only 3 percent of the Earth’s water is freshwater and less than 1 percent of the water on the planet is readily available for human use. One-hundred percent of the water used in Ohio is freshwater.

Celebrate Earth Science Week – October 10-16, 2010.

10/10/2010 -- “Exploring Energy” is the theme for this year’s Earth Science Week. The USGS is a proud partner in this annual international event sponsored by the American Geological Institute.  Earth Science Week promotes responsible stewardship of the Earth and encourages children and adults alike to explore the geosciences. There are many Earth Science Week events in Ohio and throughout the world open to the public. Earth science is all around us!

Protect Your Groundwater Day – September 14, 2010.

09/09/2010 -- ACT to protect groundwater- Acknowledge the causes of preventable groundwater contamination, Consider the hazards applicable to you, and Take action to prevent groundwater contamination. More information on groundwater and Protect Your Groundwater Day can be found at the National Ground Water Association web page.

Using Web Services To Acquire USGS Water Data.

09/08/2010 -- Three new or upgraded water Web services are available from the USGS for retrieving instantaneous and daily water data as well as water-quality data and site information. Web services do not involve a user’s working with a graphical user interface to obtain data. Instead, Web services facilitate the automatic transfer of data from one computer directly to another in consistent formats that primarily are intended to be used by computer applications.

A Web service is also available for the USGS StreamStats application. The Streamstats web service provides remote computer applications with the ability to initiate a request to execute StreamStats programs over the Internet, with the response delivered back to the remote application. Information such as watershed boundaries, basin characteristics, and streamflow statistics can be obtained.

Almost 700 New Ohio Quad Maps Available.

09/03/2010 -- New topographic maps are available for most of Ohio. US Topo is the next generation of USGS digital topographic maps.  Arranged in the traditional 7.5-minute quadrangle format, digital US Topo maps are designed to look like the traditional paper topographic maps for which the USGS is so well known while providing modern technical advantages, including the ability to either view or hide contours, hydrographic features, and other data layers that make up the maps. US Topo maps are available online for no charge in GeoPDF format or can be ordered in printed form.

The USGS Values your comments and suggestions (online or e-mail) about the new US Topo.

Recreational Water Quality Nowcast for Ohio Inland Lakes.

06/03/2010 -- In the future, before you head to one of Ohio’s inland lake beaches, you may be able to check the predicted water quality that morning just like you can with the Ohio Nowcast already operational at two Lake Erie beaches and the Cuyahoga River. “The Nowcast system is similar to a weather forecast except that current water-quality conditions instead of future conditions are estimated,” said Donna Francy, USGS research hydrologist for the study. The water-quality models used for the Nowcasts are beach-specific. The beaches to be sampled this summer and tested for Nowcast models (news release) include Ohio Department of Natural Resources beaches at Grand Lake St. Mary’s (news release), Buck Creek State Park (CJ Brown Reservoir, news release), Buckeye Lake, and Alum Creek Reservoir and Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District beaches at Atwood Lake and Tappan Lake.

Call for Abstracts: Ground Water Conference - Oct. 4-7, 2010.

06/01/2010 -- The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and USGS Ohio Water Science Center are sponsoring the 55^th Midwest Ground Water Conference in Columbus. The conference provides an opportunity for hydrogeologists, geologists, engineers, students, and others studying groundwater resources to meet and exchange ideas, discuss mutual problems affecting the Midwest, and summarize results of field and laboratory studies. Abstracts for oral presentations and posters are due June 25.

Instant Information about Water Conditions by Text Message or E-mail.

05/19/2010 -- Now you can receive instant, customized updates about water conditions by subscribing to WaterAlert, a new service from the U.S. Geological Survey. Whether you are watching for floods, interested in recreational activities or concerned about the quality of water in your well, WaterAlert allows you to receive daily or hourly updates about current conditions in rivers, lakes and groundwater when they match conditions of concern to you (more). Another service, StreaMail, allows you to query a USGS gaging site for current gage height and streamflow.

Summary of Hydrologic Data for the Tuscarawas River Basin.

05/12/2010 -- A new report and annotated bibliography summarizes environmental and hydrologic conditions in the Tuscarawas River Basin, Ohio. The basin drains part of 13 counties in eastern Ohio and is an important source of drinking water for 600,000 residents. As of 2009, a multitude of weather stations, 17 streamgages, 6 water-quality monitors, and 27 observation wells that monitor local hydrologic conditions were in operation within the basin. Previous reports as well as new data collected for this study show that water quality has been degraded by urbanization, agricultural activity, discharges from wastewater-treatment facilities and thermoelectric powerplants, mining, and disposal of solid and hazardous wastes. Analysis of age-dating tracers confirmed that shallow groundwater is relatively young and is susceptible to contamination from current land-use practices.

National Drinking Water Week – May 2-10 2010.

04/30/2010 -- Less than 1 percent of the Earth’s water is suitable for drinking water. The USGS estimates that Ohioans use 75 gallons per day per person of self-supplied domestic water (mostly wells) and 68 gallons per day per person of publicly supplied domestic water. Common domestic water uses include drinking, food preparation, washing clothes, and watering gardens.  More information about drinking water and this event can be found at the U.S. EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water and  American Water Works Association web pages.

National Flood Safety Awareness Week, March 15-19, 2010.

03/12/2010 -- Water is Ohio’s greatest natural hazard. Flooding is a threat in Ohio and throughout the Nation. National Flood Safety Awareness Week, sponsored by the National Weather Service, highlights some of the causes of floods, hazards of floods, and things people can do to save lives and property. USGS streamgage data (podcast) and science in Ohio (2.76 Mb .pdf) help reduce flood-related death and damage. A map of current flood and high-flow conditions is available from the USGS Water Watch.

National Ground Water Awareness Week – March 7-13, 2010.

03/05/2010 -- Celebrate and learn about groundwater, the hidden resource. Groundwater is the water that seeps into the ground and fills the pores and cracks in the rocks below the surface. Groundwater and wells are vulnerable to naturally occurring contaminants such as radon, uranium and arsenic as well as commonly used manmade compounds, including fertilizers, septic-tank leachate, solvents and gasoline hydrocarbons. Recent USGS studies and a video podcast about public drinking water well vulnerability to contamination are available. National Ground Water Awareness Week is sponsored by the National Ground Water Association (NGWA) and is supported by many organizations including the USGS, US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the Groundwater Foundation. More information on groundwater can be found at the USGS Groundwater Information Page.

Why Drinking Water Wells are Vulnerable to Contamination.

02/11/2010 -- New USGS groundwater studies explain what, when, and how contaminants may reach public-supply wells. Public-supply well vulnerability to contamination differs based on three factors: the general chemistry of the aquifer, groundwater age, and direct paths within aquifer systems that allow water and contaminants to reach a well. More than 100 million people in the United States – about 35 percent of the population – receive their drinking water from public groundwater systems. Complete findings, including a USGS video podcast, are available. The quality of drinking water from the nation’s public-water systems is regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Controlling the Spread of Asian Carp.

02/04/2010 -- Hydrologists from the USGS Ohio and Illinois Water Science Centers recently aided a multiagency effort to help protect Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes from Asian carp. The hydrologists made streamflow and velocity measurements in the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, and they injected and tracked Rhodamine dye (a nontoxic fluorescing dye) prior to application of Rotenone, a fish toxicant. The Rotenone application was designed to prevent Asian carp from advancing through a fish barrier on the canal reach while the barrier was shut down for maintenance, and the dye-study information was used to help plan the Rotenone application. USGS hydrologists injected Rhodamine dye again during the Rotenone application to help track the toxicant so that workers would know when and for how long to administer a detoxifying agent at the downstream end of the reach to prevent fish kills farther downstream. For more information on Asian carp and efforts to contain them, see http://www.asiancarp.org.

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