USGS Science in Nevada

USGS Science in Nevada http://nevada.usgs.gov/water — Providing reliable, unbiased scientific information about Nevada's water resources

http://usgs.gov/ — The USGS serves the Nation by providing reliable scientific information to describe and understand the Earth; minimize loss of life and property from nature.

There are many ways to collect water data. Sometimes it’s a single measurement taken in the moment; other times it’s con...
06/22/2026

There are many ways to collect water data. Sometimes it’s a single measurement taken in the moment; other times it’s continuous monitoring—often every 15 minutes—so that even rapid changes in stream, groundwater, or precipitation conditions can be accurately captured.

But no matter the method, every piece of equipment we rely on is installed, maintained, and verified by USGS staff. It’s the knowledge and expertise of our scientists that ensure the data those instruments collect truly makes sense.

Today, we’re excited to welcome two new Hydrologic Field Assistants, Janine Robinson and Henry Kullberg, who are already out in the field getting their feet wet—literally—as they learn the techniques and methods of streamgaging. 💧

📷: Janine and Henry practice measuring streamflow to verify the streamgage measurements. Photo credit: Scott Sylvester.

USGS scientists had a great time partnering with the Walker Basin Conservancy and many local organizations for a hands‑o...
06/12/2026

USGS scientists had a great time partnering with the Walker Basin Conservancy and many local organizations for a hands‑on field day with local 6th graders along the banks of the beautiful Walker River.

Students learned about the Walker River watershed, explored how water flows through their community, and created posters showing what they believe are potential sources of pollution in their watershed. Our team also led a waterside demonstration on how scientists measure important water‑quality parameters—including pH, specific conductance, and dissolved oxygen—to understand river health. 💧🤓

It was an inspiring day of science, curiosity, and connection to Nevada’s natural resources. A huge thank‑you to all the partners and educators who made this event possible!

📷1: USGS scientists explain to students the instruments used to measure water quality field parameters.
📷2: USGS scientists discuss the Walker River watershed with students and oversee as students draw posters of river contamination.

Sometimes being passive is the only way to get the right data. 😂Our team is deploying Polar Organic Chemical Integrative...
06/08/2026

Sometimes being passive is the only way to get the right data. 😂

Our team is deploying Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Samplers (POCIS) in a few of Nevada’s river systems to monitor pesticides moving through waterways near agricultural fields.

It is difficult to monitor pesticides in surface water since water is constantly moving downstream. A single sample at a single moment may not be representative of conditions over time. These POCIS are passive samplers that quietly absorb chemicals over roughly 30 days, giving us a measure of pesticide concentrations that can be more telling than a single sample.

Science doesn’t always need to make waves—sometimes it just needs to sit back, relax, and sample. ☺️

📷1: Hydrologist Venus Cruz retrieves a deployed POCIS sampler
📷2: A POCIS sampler deployment set up with the sampler wired to a cinderblock. This ensures the POCIS stays in one place during the sampling period while keeping it off the river bottom.
📷3: A successfully deployed POCIS sampler visible beneath the river's surface. It is important the sampler remain submerged.

Quality matters, especially when it come to our water. 💧We were recently collecting a water sample from Truckee River n...
05/29/2026

Quality matters, especially when it come to our water. 💧

We were recently collecting a water sample from Truckee River near Tracy, NV as part of a national water quality study that includes monitoring for trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). TFA is a type of PFAS chemical, sometimes called a “forever chemical,” because it doesn’t break down easily in the environment.

By monitoring TFA in rivers like the Truckee, scientists can better understand where these chemicals are coming from, how they move through the environment, and what that means for water quality and ecosystem health. This work helps support informed decisions that protect both people and the environment.

📷: Hydrologist Harold Jones pours a small amount of water collected from the Truckee River using a depth-integrated sampler (the white fish-looking device hanging from the bridge crane) into a smaller vial for TFA analysis.

💧 Does groundwater pumping affect river flow? A new report describes how USGS scientists modeled the effects of groundwa...
05/26/2026

💧 Does groundwater pumping affect river flow?

A new report describes how USGS scientists modeled the effects of groundwater pumping on the middle Humboldt River in northern Nevada. 📑

As pumping increased over the decades, more river water was drawn into the groundwater system, reducing natural river flow. In the 1960s, impacts were small, but by the late 1990s, thousands of acre feet of river water were being captured each year.

If current pumping continues, river losses could grow even more. Mining operations temporarily boosted river flow in the past by discharging pumped groundwater back into the river, but once that stops, flows are expected to decline gradually over decades.

New maps also highlight where pumping is most likely to affect the river, especially near the Humboldt River and its northern tributaries.

Find the report here: https://ow.ly/tBTh50Z1Tpu

📷: USGS streamgage 10322500: Humboldt River at Palisade, NV.

05/14/2026

Does anyone else feel the wind blowing in the changing of the seasons? The strong Nevada winds seem to blow relentlessly sometimes, and these tumbleweeds rolling across the open desert near the Humboldt River by Rose Creek make for a perfect visual indicator of shifting conditions.
 
As temperatures rise, mountain snowpack begins to melt, contributing to increased discharge in rivers and streams. Some of that meltwater infiltrates downward, recharging local aquifers and supporting early‑season groundwater availability. As we move farther into summer, however, surface flows typically recede as snowpack dwindles, evapotranspiration increases, and basin soils dry.
 
A simple tumbleweed migration ends up telling a pretty elegant story about seasonal hydrology here in Nevada.
 
📹: Tumbleweeds blowing across the eastern Nevada desert. Video credit: Cory Rogaczewski

04/22/2026

There's usually one brave enough to take that first step — they just may need a little nudge from a friend. 🙂🐴

These visitors stopped to eye our equipment on the banks of the Quinn River in northern Nevada. Across Nevada, and the whole country, our dedicated technicians are out year-round measuring the water that matters — for our communities, our landscapes, and everything that relies on it.

Sometimes the herd follows the leader, but we always follow the water data! 💧

📹: A narrow view of our streamgaging site on the Quinn River. The numbered staff plate sticking up from the riverbed is used to measure the water depth. The yellow instrument leaning against the post is used to measure stream velocity at even intervals across the river (the thin tagline stretched across the river keeps the intervals even).

Our USGS field crews were recently out on the Carson River upstream of Lahontan Reservoir collecting a water-quality sam...
04/09/2026

Our USGS field crews were recently out on the Carson River upstream of Lahontan Reservoir collecting a water-quality sample to support ongoing mercury monitoring in the watershed.

Using a suspended sampler from the bridge, the team collected a representative sample of river water to assess mercury transported in both dissolved and particulate forms.

Back at our USGS sample preparation laboratory, the sample was processed and filtered to isolate particulate material for mercury analysis. 🤓 These data help us better understand mercury movement through the system—supporting long-term monitoring, scientific research, and resource management in the region.

🔬 Field to lab, every step helps build a clearer picture of water quality in Carson River system.

📷1: Hydrographer, Mike Denicola, uses a bridge crane to lower the sampler into the Carson River. Photo credit: Venus Cruz, USGS.
📷2: A sample of Carson River water is processed through a membrane filter in a vacuum filtration chamber. The particulate matter caught on the filter will be sent in for mercury analyses (a measure of mercury adhered to the sediment). Photo credit: Venus Cruz, USGS.

Out on the dried lakebed, the mud was cracking jokes… literally. These are mudcracks, formed when soaked sediment dries ...
04/02/2026

Out on the dried lakebed, the mud was cracking jokes… literally. These are mudcracks, formed when soaked sediment dries out and shrinks—basically the ground’s way of saying, “I miss water, but I’m trying to stay positive.” 💧

Mudcracks aren’t just pretty patterns—they record how fast the sediment dried, how much it shrank, and how recently water was here. Nature’s own notebook, written in polygons. As the mud tightens, it breaks into those cool little geometric tiles. Scientists get especially excited about “triple junctions”—spots where 3 cracks meet like they’re having a tiny mud‑conference at perfect 120‑degree angles. It’s nature doing tidy math, which frankly feels a bit show‑offy. 🙃

But here’s the twist: despite looking like a giant pan of overbaked brownies, some of these cracks are shockingly deep. Deep enough that you could lose a boot, a shoe, a small amount of dignity, or—based on today’s fieldwork—half an arm before hitting the softer mud below.

So, if you visit spots like this, take that “DEEP MUD” sign seriously. The ground may look solid, but it’s the geological equivalent of a trust fall gone wrong.

📷1: The "Deep Mud" warning sign near the edge of Crystal Reservoir in Nye County, NV. Photo credit: Joshua Gonzales
📷2: An adult-sized hand inserted between mud cracks gives perspective of just how deep these mudcracks can be. Photo credit: Joshua Gonzales

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