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.

In Nevada, groundwater is a lifeline—supplying at least part of the drinking water many residents rely on every day. 💧Th...
08/27/2026

In Nevada, groundwater is a lifeline—supplying at least part of the drinking water many residents rely on every day. 💧

This summer, our USGS crews were out across the Truckee Meadows and Carson City sampling deep municipal, domestic, and monitoring wells that tap the principal aquifers beneath the region.

As part of the National Water Quality Program, we collect these samples every 10 years to track long‑term trends in groundwater quality. These data help communities understand changing conditions and support efforts to keep drinking water sources clean and reliable.

📷1: Sampling crew, Chris Morris, Sara Doyle, and Harold Jones, work together to collect and process a groundwater sample from a deep monitoring well in Carson City, NV. Photo credit: Chris Morris

📷2: Sampling crew, Venus Cruz and Sara Doyle, collecting a groundwater sample from a municipal well in Carson City, NV. Photo credit: Harold Jones

At the heart of one of southern Nevada’s rare wetlands, a breached dam meets cutting‑edge modeling—exposing how floodwat...
08/21/2026

At the heart of one of southern Nevada’s rare wetlands, a breached dam meets cutting‑edge modeling—exposing how floodwaters might move when nature and infrastructure collide.

The Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge is home to the Carson Slough, the largest wetland complex in southern Nevada, which provides critical habitat for several threatened and endangered species. Mud Lake Dam, a rock and earth embankment structure, stretches across the main natural channel into the Carson Slough, but was breached in the 1990s.

The USGS recently developed hydrologic and hydraulic models to evaluate how modifications to the dam could affect flooding in the Carson Slough.

The models simulated flood-inundation extent, depth, and velocity under a range of precipitation recurrence intervals and dam configurations. Results indicate that the evaluated dam modifications would produce only minor differences in the overall inundated area, although actual effects may vary depending on how modifications are constructed.

Find the report here: https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/sir20265053

📷: Dry natural stream channel below the existing breach at Mud Lake Dam, near Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge, Nevada. Person for scale near the eroded embankment on the left side. Photo credit: Chris Morris

We're breaking new ground to better understand Nevada's groundwater resources. 💧The Nevada Water Science Center recently...
08/04/2026

We're breaking new ground to better understand Nevada's groundwater resources. 💧

The Nevada Water Science Center recently wrapped up a successful trip to Monte Cristo and Railroad Valleys, where our team drilled new groundwater monitoring wells in some of the most data-scarce regions of the state. 🌄

These wells will provide critical long-term groundwater information to support the Nevada Water Initiative, a collaborative effort with the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources - Division of Water Resources and the Desert Research Institute. This new data will help us better understand Nevada’s water resources and strengthen science-based decision making for years to come.

📷: The augur drilling rig ready to pull away from a newly drilled monitoring well in Monte Cristo Valley, NV. Photo credit: David Smith

In the desert, every drop counts. 🌄💧Springs, like Preston Big Spring, are indicators of groundwater availability, ecosys...
07/28/2026

In the desert, every drop counts. 🌄💧

Springs, like Preston Big Spring, are indicators of groundwater availability, ecosystem health, and long-term hydrologic change. By keeping a close eye on springflow, we're helping land and water managers understand how groundwater resources respond to changes in, like drought and groundwater use.

These summer days are long, and our field crews are taking full advantage of the extra daylight—visiting sites, checking instruments, and verifying measurements to make sure the data you rely on is accurate and on point.

USGS Preston Big Spring (09415510): https://ow.ly/RBzu50ZrbJt

📷1: USGS equipment used to monitor springflow at Preston Big Spring.
📷2: USGS truck parked near Preston Big Spring near evening twilight.

Photo credit: Sade Cromratie Clemons

Inspiring the next generation of water scientists 👩‍🔬The USGS Nevada Water Science Center had the pleasure of hosting Sa...
07/20/2026

Inspiring the next generation of water scientists 👩‍🔬

The USGS Nevada Water Science Center had the pleasure of hosting Sarayu Nithish, , a curious student interested in water resources, through the Nevada Water Resources Association Student Career Shadow Program!

Sarayu spent the day learning what the USGS does, how our water data and science support communities across Nevada, and why this work is so important. She also got some hands‑on field experience—complete with getting her feet wet in the Carson River—while visiting a Carson River streamgage.

We’re grateful for programs like this that help inspire the next generation of water scientists, and we’re excited to see where Sarayu’s journey leads!

📷: Hydrographer Liam instructs student, Sarayu, on how to collect a streamflow measurement. Photo credit: Liam Mccann.

Safety in the field starts with the right method for the conditions. Sudden changes in stage (the height of the water su...
07/16/2026

Safety in the field starts with the right method for the conditions.

Sudden changes in stage (the height of the water surface) can make wading hazardous for our Hydrologic Technicians, and traditional tag-line methods can be difficult to perform consistently under those conditions. At the Las Vegas Wasteway, for example, flows can rise or fall quickly because the channel carries treated effluent and urban runoff.

To keep technicians safely on the bank, we use a remote controlled acoustic doppler current profiler (ADCP). This lets our hydro techs collect high quality velocity and discharge measurements without entering the water.

This approach helps ensure:
💧Consistent, repeatable measurements even during rapid fluctuations
💧More reliable data from sites where wading is impractical or unsafe

The goal isn’t to highlight the equipment — it’s to highlight how thoughtful field methods help us keep people safe while continuing to produce dependable streamflow data at challenging locations or during challenging conditions.

🔗: USGS 09419679 (Las Vegas Wasteway): https://ow.ly/kGnW50ZnsAs

📷: A remote controlled ADCP, sporting a fun green western-style hat, collects measurements in the Las Vegas Wasteway. Photo credit: Kristy Benson.

🌄 The USGS Nevada Water Science Center recently hit the road to visit a series of remote springs across eastern Nevada. ...
06/29/2026

🌄 The USGS Nevada Water Science Center recently hit the road to visit a series of remote springs across eastern Nevada. We collected water‑quality samples to better understand naturally occurring petroleum‑related compounds in these groundwater sources.

Why does this matter? 💧
Because knowing what’s in your water helps everyone understand our vital water resources across the Great Basin and better equips our water and land managers to manage them.

📷1: Hydrologist Venus Cruz holds up a sample bottle full of spring water.
📷2: A spring pool with rocks of varying colors due to mineralization. Photo credit: Venus Cruz
📷3: A series of track pads, typically used to get a truck unstuck from a muddy situation, are used to create a walkable bridge to the flowing discharge pipe over boggy ground. Photo credit: Venus Cruz

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.

Address

2730 N Deer Run Road
Carson City, NV
89701

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Wednesday 9am - 5pm
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