U.S. Geological Survey

Mission of the Water Resources Division

• Resource assessment;
• Research;
• Coordinating the activities and cataloging the products of numerous other entities involved in water research, data acquisition, or information transfer.

Resource Assessment.

• Collecting data on the quantity, quality, and use of surface water (rivers, streams, lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and glaciers); the quantity, and use of ground water (including water in the unsaturated zone); and the quality of precipitation.
• Storing and disseminating these data.
• Interpreting these data and publishing the results of these interpretations. This interpretation involves the inference of hydrologic causes, effects, and probabilities; and the extension, overspace and time, of information contained directly in the data.
• Developing and applying new methods of hydrologic data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
• Conducting areal focused interpretive investigations and appraisals at national, regional, state, or local scales. These include characterizations of ground and surface waters, and of precipitation chemistry; evaluation of natural hydrologic hazards; and studies of other water-related topics. Frequently these investigations involve the development, testing, and application of mathematical models capable of quantitatively evaluating the hydrologic consequences of management actions, development plans, or natural phenomena. These investigations are carried out through specific Federal programs or in cooperation with State and local governments or other Federal agencies. Results are published in technical journals or in State, local, U.S. Geological Survey or other Federal agency publications.
• Reporting to the Nation, on a regular basis, on the overall status of water resources, and on hydrologic events and water-resource issues.

Research.

• Improve the overall understanding of the pathways, rates of movement, chemical processes, and biological processes in the hydrologic cycle.
• Improve the overall understanding of the hydraulic, chemical, and biological factors, both natural and man caused, which affect the resource.
• Provide new strategies of data collection, analysis, and interpretation, in the light of new knowledge and evolving scientific capabilities.
• Improve methods of predicting the response of hydrologic systems to stresses, whether hydraulic or chemical, and whether of natural or human origin.

Coordinating the Activities and Cataloging the Products of Other Entities Involved in Water Research, Data Acquisition, or Information Transfer.

• The coordination of water-data acquisition activities of Federal agencies (as mandated by Office of Management and Budget Circular A-67).
• The acquisition of water-use data and development of State and national water-use data bases in cooperation with State governments.
• The operation of water-information exchanges and centers, which provide all interested parties with indexing and access to many sources of water data and information.
• The administration of extramural water-resources research, technology, development, academic training, and information-transfer programs mandated by the Water Resources Research Act of 1984 (Public Law 98-424). The Act mandates research oriented to the environmental values associated with the resource. The research promoted by the Act involves many disciplines and activities other than those required in the assessment, research, and coordinating functions of the Water-Resources Division.