Surface-Water Data Collection in New York

Problem  

Surface-water information is needed for planning, design, hazard warning, and operation and management in water-related fields such as water supply, hydroelectric power, flood control, irrigation, bridge and culvert design, wildlife management, pollution abatement, flood-plain management, and water-resources development. Appropriate historical and real-time surface-water data, such as stream flow and stage, reservoir levels, and water temperature, are necessary to properly assess, manage and protect water resources.

Objectives

Collect timely and high quality surface-water data for (1) assessment of water resources; (2) operation of reservoirs or industries; (3) forecasting flow; (4) disposal of wastes and pollution controls; (5) discharge data to accompany water-quality measurement; (6) compact and legal requirements; and (7) research or special studies. Collect data necessary for analytical studies to define the statistical properties of, and trends in, the occurrence of water in streams, lakes, and estuaries for use in planning and design.

Benefits

An important part of the USGS mission is to continually assess the surface-water resources of the Nation. To do this effectively, the USGS operates more than 7,000 stream, lake, and reservoir gages nationally, makes periodic flow measurements on rivers and streams using standardized methods, maintains the data from these gages in a national data base, makes these data available at http://ny.usgs.gov, and publishes the data for each State annually. Continuous records of discharge are defined using stage-discharge relations in conjunction with recorded stage records. Flow data from about 85 percent of the gage sites are delivered on a real-time basis to customers and the public online, which is critical to the most effective management of the Nation's vital resources. These data are needed to develop information about flow characteristics that can be used for overall planning and managing of water-resources projects and regulatory programs, such as flood warning and assessment, reservoir operations, setting and monitoring water-quality standards, designing bridges and culverts, evaluating the effects of changing land use, detecting long-term changes in climate, and administering compacts, decrees, and (or) treaties on interstate and international bodies of water. The stream, lake, and reservoir gages operated in this State are an integral part of the national surface-water network.

Approach

Standard methods of data collection will be used as described in the series "Techniques of Water-Resources Investigations of the U.S. Geological Survey and U.S.Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 2175 "Measurement and Computation of Streamflow: Volumes 1 and 2". Partial-record gaging is used instead of continuous-record gaging where it serves the required purpose.

New York Annual Water-Data Reports

Project Location by County

NY Statewide