Welcome to the USGS Minnesota Water Science Center. These pages are your source for water-resource information collected and interpreted by the U.S. Geological Survey in Minnesota.
Minnesota Water Science Center activities include:
- Presentation of real-time streamflow, water-quality, ground-water levels data.
- Operation and oversight of an extensive network of water-resource monitoring sites.
- Archive of water-resource information collected for more than 100 years.
- Data collection and investigative studies related to issues of concern to water-management entities and citizens.
- Publishing data and topical reports.
Quick Link to Real-Time Data:
View site list:
SW |
GW |
WQ
MinnesotaMonitoring Networks
The USGS Minnesota Water Science Center continuously monitors surface water, ground water, and water quality parameters across the state. Monitoring sites are operated in cooperation with various local, State, or Federal agencies.
Minnesota provides real-time water-stage, streamflow and precipitation data at 149 sites across the state.
33 ground-water wells are monitored by the USGS in Minnesota. These wells record data on hourly intervals.
Water-quality conditions are continuously monitored by the USGS at 11 sites across the state of Minnesota
View the Google Map developed by the NWIS team that displays all Minnesota Surface-Water sites, Groundwater sites, and more.
Featured Publication
Effects of Agricultural Land Retirement in the Minnesota River Basin
by Victoria G. Christensen and Kathy E. Lee.
Full Publication | AWRA Article
West Fork Beaver Creek.
Three watersheds in the Minnesota River basin were selected to study effects of agricultural land retirement on stream quality. Site selections were based on similarities in hydrology, land use, soil type, and other characteristics; and differences in land retirement percentages. Water samples were collected from 2005-2008 and analyzed for field measurements, nutrients, and sediment. Streamflow and continuous water-quality data also were collected. Biological sampling was conducted in August 2006 and 2007.
The South Branch Rush River (representing little to no land retirement) had substantially higher nitrogen concentrations than Chetomba Creek and West Fork Beaver Creek, watersheds with more riparian land retirement. Total phosphorus was highest in West Fork Beaver Creek and lower in Chetomba Creek and South Branch Rush River. A second monitoring site was established in Chetomba basin, downstream from substantial riparian land retirement. Nitrite plus nitrate, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus were lower for the downstream monitoring site, which may indicate that water-quality improved due to land retirement.
Fish data indicate better resource quality for West Fork Beaver Creek than other streams likely due to several factors including habitat quality, food resources, and dissolved oxygen characteristics. Index of biotic integrity scores increased as local land-retirement percentages (50-and 100-ft buffers) increased.
Data via GoogleMaps
New Maps Deliver Current Streamflow Conditions
We added a Google-Map based Web page to deliver map-based current surface-water resources conditions in Minnesota.
The maps utilize zoom and pan to allow you to focus in on the water-monitoring sites that interest you. The maps show current streamflow as compared to historical records. By hovering your mouse over a site, a popup box shows the most recent stage and streamflow.
Current Issues
USGS GeoHealth Newsletter
The USGS has released the GeoHealth newsletter, which covers USGS activities related to environmental health science. It also lists recent and upcoming publications with an environmental health science emphasis.
Terrestrial Crude Oil Spills Symposium
Monday, June 11, 2012, is the date of a symposium titled "Terrestrial crude oil spills: decades of science from the Bemidji, Minnesota Research Site." The symposium will focus on sharing research results from the National Crude Oil Spill Fate and Natural Attenuation Site, Bemidji, Minnesota, and will be held at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul campus. The symposium will be followed by a site tour on June 12, starting at 1:00 p.m. The symposium hosts are the U.S. Geological Survey, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Enbridge Energy Limited Partnership, and Beltrami County, with financial sponsorship from the American Petroleum Institute.
Symposium registration is now open. Register Online | Learn more
Minnesota's Fiercest Floods - Video
Twin Cities Public Television (tpt) is broadcasting a program that explores the stories of historic floods on the Minnesota, Mississippi, and Red Rivers.
Broadcast Schedule | Streaming Video
White Bear Lake Project in the News
Perry Jones, Hydrologist, was recently interviewed by Tom Snell, Executive Director with the White Bear Lake Chamber of Commerce. Their discussion of the
White Bear Lake project covered possible causes for the decline in water level as well as potential actions that can be taken to bring the water level back up.
NAWQA Trace Elements National Synthesis Project Reports
A NAWQA web page is available that presents 2 reports (a journal article and a USGS Fact Sheet) on a national study of radium in groundwater. The study found elevated concentrations of radium in the Mid Continent & Ozark Plateau Cambro-Ordovician aquifer (AR, IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, and WI), and the Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain aquifer (DE, DC, MD, NJ, NY, NC, and VA).
Winter 2012 Newsletter
The Minnesota Water Science Center Winter 2012 Newsletter highlights the burgeoning sediment program, spotlights the exceptional service of Vicki Christensen, summarizes newly published reports, and provides a glimpse at the current progress of the White Bear Lake project.
Winter/Spring Brownbag Seminars
The Minnesota Water Science Center is teaming up with the Minnesota Geological Survey to host a series of brownbag seminars. The location of the seminars will rotate between the MNWSC and the MGS offices.
Full Schedule
New Publication: Wastewater Indicator Compounds in Wastewater Effluent, Surface Water, and Bed Sediment in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway and Implications for Water Resources and Aquatic Biota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, 2007-08
The U.S. Geological Survey and the National Park Service cooperated on a study to determine the occurrence of wastewater indicator compounds including nutrients; organic wastewater compounds (OWCs), such as compounds used in plastic components, surfactant metabolites, antimicrobials, fragrances, and fire retardants; and pharmaceuticals in the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Samples of treated wastewater effluent from two wastewater-treatment plants (WWTPs), located in St. Croix Falls, Wisc. (SCF-WWTP) and Taylors Falls, Minn. (TF-WWTP), were collected from 2007 to 2008. During this time, surface-water and bed-sediment samples from the St. Croix River below Sunrise River near Sunrise, Minn., upstream from the two WWTPs (Sunrise site), and from the St. Croix River above Rock Island near Franconia, Minn., downstream from the WWTPs (Franconia site), also were collected. The Franconia site was selected because of the two large WWTP discharge points and the presence of mussel beds in this area of the St. Croix River.
Full Report
New Publication Available: Trends in Suspended-Sediment Loads and Concentrations in the Mississippi River Basin, 1950-2009
Trends in loads and concentrations of suspended sediment and suspended sand generally were downward for stations within the Mississippi River Basin during the 60-, 34-, and 12-year periods analyzed. Sediment transport in the lower Mississippi River has historically been, and continues to be, most closely correlative to sediment contributions from the Missouri River, which generally carried the largest annual suspended-sediment load of the major Mississippi River subbasins. The closure of Fort Randall Dam in the upper Missouri River in 1952 was the single largest event in the recorded historical decline of suspended-sediment loads in the Mississippi River Basin. Impoundments on tributaries and sediment reductions as a result of implementation of agricultural conservation practices throughout the basin likely account for much of the remaining Mississippi River sediment transport decline. Scour of the main-stem channel downstream from the upper Missouri River impoundments is likely the largest source of suspended sand in the lower Missouri River. The Ohio River was second to the Missouri River in terms of sediment contributions, followed by the upper Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers. Declines in sediment loads and concentrations continued through the most recent analysis period (1998-2009) at available Mississippi River Basin stations. Analyses of flow-adjusted concentrations of suspended sediment indicate the recent downward temporal changes generally can be explained by corresponding decreases in streamflows.
Full Report
More Current Issues
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