Water Resources of Oregon

USGS Oregon WSC Highlights

Klamath Basin Science Conference to Explore Current Understanding of the Basin's Ecosystem

The USGS, NOAA Fisheries, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation will host a major gathering of scientists from government, academia, Tribes, and the private sector to share information on the current understanding of the Klamath River Basin ecosystem, with an emphasis on water resources availability and quality, and aquatic ecosystems. The purpose of the conference is to build scientific collaboration and to identify gaps in our knowledge that must be filled to inform land, water, and fisheries managers, as well as the public, about the current status and future scenarios of natural resource use in the basin. The expected outcome of the conference is that information needs and science priorities will be identified, discussed, and synthesized in light of possible dam removals, potential climate change effects, endangered species management, salmon reintroduction and recovery, invasive species, and the need to provide water for agricultural and other human uses. For more information on the conference, which will be held February 1–5, 2010, in Medford, Oregon, see the conference announcement and Website.

Oregon Water Science Center Launches Podcast Website

The Oregon Water Science Center has launched the USGS Oregon Science Podcast Webpage. Each podcast episode will provide insightful interviews with USGS scientists on topics in the areas of hydrology, geology, biology, or geography. The current episode is an interview with Dr. Stewart A. Rounds, senior author of the report "Reconnaissance of Pharmaceutical Chemicals in Urban Streams of the Tualatin River Basin, Oregon, 2002." Dr. Rounds discusses how common drugs such as caffeine, ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and codeine make their way into streams and how we can keep them out, as well as the capacity of drinking-water treatment plants to remove them from the water supply. In another podcast episode, Drs. Jim O'Connor and Jon Major discuss the removal of Marmot Dam on the Sandy River and its aftermath. The interview took place in December 2007, about 4 months after the dam was breached.

The USGS is a world leader in the natural sciences. To access the wealth of science information readily available to you, in formats from podcasts to publicatons, visit the USGS home page and start clicking.

USGS Study of the Tualatin River Basin in Portland Monitors and Models Water Quality

Tualatin River at Lee Falls (Photograph by Stewart Rounds, USGS)

The Tualatin River drains a 712 square-mile basin on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area in northwestern Oregon. Home to more than 500,000 people, the basin supports a wide range of urban, agricultural, and forest-derived activities. The lower reaches of the Tualatin River sometimes have low dissolved oxygen concentrations because of low flow, slow oxygen exchange with the atmosphere, and a large amount of decomposing organic material in its sediments. Algal growth can also be an important driver of water quality in the lower Tualatin River. To address these and other water-quality issues, the Tualatin River was the first river in the Nation to receive protections under the Total Maximum Daily Load provisions of the Federal Clean Water Act in 1988.

Since 1990, the USGS has been studying water quality in the Tualatin River and its tributaries in collaboration with Clean Water Services, which is the primary wastewater and stormwater management utility for the urban areas of Washington County, Oregon. This scientific collaboration has provided an excellent framework for research into a variety of important water-quality issues with direct ties to resource management, such as:

• Water-quality modeling of rivers and lakes
• Oxygen-consuming processes at the sediment-water interface
• Techniques and instrumentation for continuous water-quality monitoring
• Dynamics and responses of plankton communities and their water-quality effects
• Urban water-quality assessments
• Storm-related water-quality research
• Development of neural network modeling methods for water-quality forecasting
• Organic-matter source assessments using stable isotope and fluorescence techniques

Read more about the Tualatin River basin study

Read the latest report from this study and listen to a podcast interview with the study's chief investigator.

USGS Study Examines the Occurrence and Foodweb Effects of Emerging Contaminants

The lower Columbia River receives a variety of contaminants as a result of urban, industrial, and agricultural development. (Photograph by Jennifer Morace, USGS)

The Columbia River provides important hydroelectric power generation, valuable recreational and tribal fisheries, extensive recreational areas and scenic beauty, and habitat for wildlife and fish. The lower Columbia River below Bonneville is the largest remaining free-flowing reach not impounded by hydroelectric dams, and it is critical to the viability of culturally significant fish populations (anadromous and resident) in the Columbia Basin, as well as a myriad of other aquatic and terrestrial organisms.

Fish, wildlife, and human populations along the lower Columbia River are exposed to an ever-growing variety of contaminants as a result of increasing urbanization, industrialization, and agricultural development.  The Columbia River Contaminants and Habitat Characterization study is a demonstration project that will combine the expertise within the USGS disciplines to address how emerging contaminants such as polybrominated diphenyl ether flame retardants (PBDEs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) impact fish, osprey, and other wildlife in the basin.

Filling knowledge gaps associated with the occurrence and bioaccumulation of PBDEs and EDCs will improve the ability of management agencies to evaluate the actions that are the most likely to result in improving lower river and estuarine conditions for salmonids and other organisms. The presence and effects of these emerging contaminants are important issues that have high scientific and public visibility and potentially important implications for people, fish, and wildlife in the Columbia River Basin.

Read more about this study