USGS New England Water Science Center

05/28/2026

05/27/2026

With about 25,000 undersized culverts or bridges that cross over streams in Massachusetts, USGS created an automated hydraulic modeling tool to develop preliminary designs for box, arch, and pipe culverts. When too small, culvert pipes can inhibit the movement of fish and wildlife and cause road flooding and erosion. 🌉

The USGS New England Water Science Center has published an informational flyer that explains this new automated GIS web tool, which is based in USGS StreamStats -- an application that lets users analyze watershed characteristics in a map-based environment.

Learn more about the project here: https://ow.ly/Frr450YZNAb

📸: An image of a replaced bridge at Bronson Brook in Worthington, Massachusetts. This new bridge meets all six Massachusetts stream crossing standard requirements. Credit: Paul Nguyen, used with permission.

05/25/2026

Happy Memorial Day!🎆Take a moment today to pause with the USGS to honor the brave people who have served our country.

📸: A bald eagle standing in front of an American flag. Credit: Randolph Zemmer/USGS

05/23/2026

Today is World Fish Migration Day! 🐠The shortnose sturgeon and the Atlantic sturgeon are endangered species that live in coastal waters and rivers – migrating upstream to spawn. In New England, these fish are found in the Penobscot, Kennebec, Androscoggin, Piscataqua, Merrimack, Connecticut and Hudson Rivers.

🐟 The USGS New England Water Science Center monitors water quality and quantity in the rivers shortnose sturgeon live, which can inform ecologists and biologists about the health of the species' habitat and how it may affect their population size or migration patterns. Dams and water regulation are some of the main challenges for these fish in New England.

🐟 The USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center is currently studying these fish throughout New England. Learn more about the work here: https://ow.ly/8hWC50YNCyM

📸: USGS Research Fishery Biologist Micah Kieffer holds a shortnose sturgeon. Kieffer leads investigations of migrant sturgeons throughout New England. Credit: Samuel Banas/USGS

05/19/2026

💧 The USGS New England Water Science Center is advancing water sustainability science to help communities and ecosystems thrive in a changing world. 🌍

USGS researchers are tackling issues like balancing water demand with supply, understanding connections between groundwater and surface water, and supporting long-term resource planning.

Current water sustainability projects at the New England Water Science Center include:
🟢assessing regional groundwater availability,
🟢evaluating water use trends in urban areas,
🟢and creating statistical models that predict how climate change may affect water supplies

We provide essential data, analyses, and predictive tools to understand both the quantity and quality of surface-water and groundwater resources to inform long-term sustainability of water resources for the public and healthy aquatic ecosystems. 📊🌿

Learn more about our water sustainability projects here: https://ow.ly/ShRp50YYmIn

📸: A view of the Scituate Reservoir in Rhode Island -- this reservoir provides 60% of the state's population with drinking water. Credit: USGS

05/18/2026

April streamflow conditions across the U.S. 💧

In April, wet conditions expanded across much of the Midwest and Northeast, while dry conditions persisted across parts of the Southern and Southwestern U.S. Notable weather patterns included:

🚧 Torrential rainstorms in Hawaii brought flash flooding and some record stream heights

🌧️ Repeated storm systems brought sustained rainfall to the Midwest and Northeast

🌊 High streamflow developed across parts of the central U.S. as runoff increased

☀️ Drier conditions continued across portions of the Southwest and southern Plains

Find more water data visualizations on the USGS VizLab - water.usgs.gov/vizlab

📸 Combined visual showing a tile chart for national streamflow conditions by flow percentiles at USGS streamgages relative to the historic record across the U.S. Flow percentiles are broken up into seven bins from 0-100% where increased percentiles indicate wetter conditions. To the right, streamflow conditions for the U.S. are shown with a tile chart for each state.

05/15/2026

Today is Endangered Species Day! 🐟 Not everyone thinks about how everything in our natural world is connected. But when an ecosystem is imbalanced in some way, the effects on the species that live there can be damaging and sometimes cause a ripple effect.

💧USGS water quality and quantity research and data collection provide vital information that fish and wildlife managers and scientists can use to help protect endangered species.

🦪 One of the most endangered mussels in the Northeast is the freshwater dwarf wedgemussel. In New England, the dwarf wedgemussel can still be found in several basins with the largest population in the Connecticut River watershed. Their populations have declined due to nutrient pollution, highway salt runoff, surface water and groundwater withdrawals, and habitat fragmentation from dams and streamcrossing infrastructure.

Knowing water levels and water quality conditions where these mussels still survive is vital in informing their management as an endangered species -- and USGS is proud our data can be used to help endangered species!

📸: An image of an endangered dwarf wedgemussel. Credit: USFWS/Susi Von Oettingen

05/13/2026

The USGS New England Water Science Center recently released a report uncovering a trend in Massachusetts: many rivers are having historic low flows, even though overall rainfall has been similar—or even higher—than in the past. 🌧️

☀️USGS looked at what could be driving these low streamflows using 6 low-flow metrics from 107 streamgages in the state. They found that dry summers and a range of human actions, like development, are having the largest influence on these low flows.

Learn more about study here: https://ow.ly/MzZx50YVGe1

📸: Coopertown Brook, located in Douglas State Forest, Massachusetts, completely dry in late September 2025.

05/12/2026

The USGS New England Water Science Center wouldn't have such great science without a little modeling. And we're not talking about strutting down a runway...🚶‍♀️‍➡️💁‍♀️

We use hydrologic modeling to simulate how water moves through watersheds and how it responds to a variety of things, such as changes in climate, land use, and stormwater infrastructure! 🖥️ With hydrologic modeling we can transform data from the field into practical tools that help managers plan for water hazards or better understand water availability.

Current modeling projects at the USGS New England Water Science Center include:
🔴estimating low-flow statistics at locations without streamgages
🔴assessing how New England’s water resources might respond to future climate scenarios
🔴outlining high-resolution urban drainage systems for better stormwater management in the Neponset River watershed,
🔴 and designing preliminary culvert designs for stream-crossing replacement projects

Learn more about our hydrologic modeling work here: https://ow.ly/qIIS50YO9OV

📸: Map of the Meduxnekeag River watershed in Maine showing distribution of hydrologic response units and the stream segments of the drainage network in the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling-System model from a USGS scientific report. Credit: USGS

05/07/2026

🌊⚠️ The U.S. Geological Survey studies water hazards to help communities better understand and prepare for flooding, drought, and other risks from extreme water events.

Active projects on natural hazards at the USGS New England Water Science Center include:

🟢improving and expanding streamgage networks
🟢modeling flood risk in coastal and urban areas
🟢and analyzing drought trends to support water use management

USGS science keeps people and infrastructure safer during extreme events through advanced analyses and real-time monitoring! 📊

Explore our Water Hazards page to learn more about how our data informs flood and drought forecasting: https://ow.ly/34FU50YO8OL

📸: Drought led to low water levels in the Green River in Colrain, Massachusetts. Credit: USGS