About USGS WaterQualityWatch

WaterQualityWatch (http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/wqwatch/) is a USGS web site that provides access to real time water-quality data collected in surface waters throughout the United States as part of the USGS mission to describe water resources. Measurements include streamflow (through WaterWatch) water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and nitrate. These measurements are available at more than 2,000 sites in streams with watersheds as small as a few square miles to more than 1,000,000 square miles in the Mississippi River as it enters the Gulf of Mexico. Continuous real-time water-quality data are used for decisions regarding drinking water, water treatment, regulatory programs, recreation, public safety, and general ecosystem health. Additionally, links are provided to other USGS technical resources and information describing how these measurements are used as surrogates to obtain real-time computations or estimates of other water-quality constituents.

Visit these other USGS websites to obtain additional water information from sites across the U.S.:

• The National Real-Time Water Quality (http://nrtwq.usgs.gov/) page provides current and historical continuous real-time water-quality data including computed concentrations and loads from surrogates. Whenever surrogate data is viewed on the WaterQualityWatch page, the viewer is linked to this page.
  
  
• WaterWatch (http://waterwatch.usgs.gov/) displays maps, graphs, and tables describing real-time, recent, and past streamflow conditions.
  
  
• Groundwater Watch (http://groundwaterwatch.usgs.gov/) displays maps and provides water-level data from active groundwater wells.
  
  
• The USGS Sediment Data Portal (http://cida.usgs.gov/sediment/) provide discrete and daily suspended sediment data from surface water sites.