Tualatin River Basin Water Quality Assessment

In 1990, the Oregon Water Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey began a water-quality assessment of the Tualatin River, in partnership with Clean Water Services. These web pages are intended to provide an overview of that project, and to provide selected data from the Tualatin River Basin.

Highlight

Tualatin River at Elsner Ave. bridge (Photo by S. Rounds)

Read an annotated bibliography of published research results in the Tualatin River basin over the last 20+ years. These historical studies are being used to better understand Tualatin River ecosystems and prioritize future data collection and research activities as well as potential management strategies.

A new report describing Tualatin River plankton communities and investigating the factors that affect those communities was published recently. Read the full report at http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2013/5037/.

Project Links

General information

Description of the basin and the project
 

Streamflow and Stage

Near-real-time streamflow and stage data from selected Tualatin River Basin sites (data from USGS and Oregon Water Resources Department sources)
 

Continuous Water Quality Monitors

Water-quality data from selected Tualatin River Basin monitors
 

Water Quality Samples

Water-quality data from samples collected from Tualatin River Basin sites
 

Weather and Precipitation

Portland Metropolitan area weather and precipitation links
 

Hagg Lake Water-Quality Model

Information, GIS datasets, models, and visualizations of model output for the USGS water-quality model of Henry Hagg Lake
 

Hagg Lake Model Scenarios

Information, models, and model output for the USGS dam-raise simulations Henry Hagg Lake
 

Reports

Published reports from the project
Recent reports:

• characterization of Tualatin River plankton communities
• use of fluorescence techniques to identify wastewater in Tualatin River streams
• use of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen to identify the sources of organic matter to Tualatin River bed sediments
• use of continuous monitors and autosamplers to predict unmeasured water-quality constituents in Tualatin tributaries
• enantiomeric fractions of chlordanes in bed sediments
• pharmaceutical chemicals in Tualatin River basin streams
• Hagg Lake model scenarios
• evaluation of optical dissolved oxygen probes
• modifications to the CE-QUAL-W2 model to support reservoir outlet temperature blending