USGS water data can be accessed programmatically through application programming interfaces (APIs) and computational tools for R and Python.

Where can I find new APIs?

While our modernized APIs power all our modernized webpages, the changes will only impact developers who have workloads that use these services. Our new APIs are available through https://api.waterdata.usgs.gov/ . Currently, modernized replacements for the daily values (DV) and site (now called monitoring locations) endpoints are available, as well as a new timeseries metadata endpoint. Learn more about API updates by reading our previous blog and watching the May 2025 webinar recording.

The date for the legacy services to be decommissioned is not set, but we recommend migrating your applications as soon as possible. Legacy WaterServices operations will overlap with the modernized APIs to facilitate the transition, however beginning in fall 2025 significant performance degradation is expected on legacy services and it will be necessary to switch over. See the documentation to help migrate your applications.

If you’re using the samples data API , which replaced the qwdata service in 2024 , then you’re already using a modernized API and won’t need to make any changes. The WaterServices statistics service is being redesigned separately to better support Water Data for the Nation, and we will provide more information about its replacement in the future.

How can I access data using R or Python?

The data retrieval packages for R and Python provide functionality to access data through the new water data APIs. These packages will be updated as the new APIs are available. See the data retrieval status page for updates to the R package, which will be mirrored in dataretrieval-python . We also offer HYSWAP (Python) and HASP (R) to generate statistical calculations (e.g. exceedance probabilities, daily historic percentiles), and visualize the data (e.g., flow duration curves, streamflow duration hydrographs).

Information about how to access sediment data, including with reproducible R and Python examples, is available on Tips on Accessing Sediment Data blog post.

Maps, graphs, and tables in Water Data for the Nation

The new WDFN UI provides access to water data through maps, graphs, and tables. We’re releasing new features to help users locate a monitoring location of interest, view multiple locations at once, view the latest conditions across the country, and see statistical data. You can find many of these features on the new WDFN Home page .

We will host a webinar in late summer about these new features during summer 2025. This post will be updated with the webinar information when it is available.

How can I find a monitoring location of interest?

We have two new pages that help you find locations of interest:

On the State Page you can explore what data types are collected at each location or see locations that collect data types that interest you by filtering the map and list. You can read more about the page on our previous blog post. We're dedicated to continually improving the page, and there are features still to come. These new features include additional data collections in the state, displaying current conditions on a map, and adding water body layers to the map.

The Explore USGS Water Data page provides the ability to explore both current and historical water data that are available in WDFN. Future improvements of the page will allow searching by additional data collections and refining your search results to download data.

Where can I find graphs and tables of conditions?

The Monitoring Location Page is the hub of all data collected at a gaging station. The Monitoring Location Page can be accessed through any of the exploration pages previously described. The interactive hydrograph allows you to zoom into different periods of interest, compare more than one data type, and switch between linear and log scale.

If you prefer an easy to scroll page of static graphs, we recommend checking out the All Graphs page associated with each monitoring location. You can read about the key feature of All Graphs on this blog post .

Not sure which graph you prefer? This blog post provides an overview of the graphs and compares their features.

Additional features to the graphing pages are still to come. This will include adding discharge and gage height field measurements on a hydrograph with continuous data. Check back later this year for more updates.

Where can I view multiple locations at once?

While many users are interested in conditions at a single location, others want to see how conditions compare or relate at several locations. We have a few tools that help you check conditions at multiple locations.

The Combined Location Hydrograph , accessed through a Monitoring Location Page, allows users to view and share the latest data for up to 5 monitoring locations on a single graph. Learn all about the Combined Location Hydrograph in this blog post .

Do you have a list of monitoring locations you frequently check? The My Favorites page allows users to create a custom list of monitoring locations that can be bookmarked and shared for repeated viewings of key locations. Read more about the features at this blog post. My Favorites is also the place where you can view any number of data graphs from all your favorite locations on a single page.

Where can I find statistical context?

On the Monitoring Location Page , you’ll find the median time-series, which can be added to the interactive hydrograph and a table of day of year statistics for available data types.

Coming soon, we’ll have a location statistics page that contains tables of the daily, monthly, and annual statistics. Also coming soon, a page highlighting daily statistical graphs contains highly requested statistical visualizations from WaterWatch. These pages will be accessible through the Monitoring Location Page.

Besides the UI, we offer statistics through several software tools:

• HYSWAP (HYdrologic Surface Water Analysis Package), is a Python package which provides a set of functions for manipulating and visualizing USGS water data. Specifically, HYSWAP includes a number of functions for calculating statistics (e.g., exceedance probabilities, daily historic percentiles) and generating related plots (e.g., flow duration curves, streamflow duration hydrographs).
• HASP (Hydrological AnalySis Package) is an R package to retrieve groundwater level and groundwater quality data, aggregate these data, plot them, and generate basic statistics.

Learn more about water data statistics in our Modernization of Statistical Delivery and WaterWatch Decommission blog post.

Where can I see a map that shows latest conditions as compared to historical values?

The primary provider of statistical information on maps is in the National Water Dashboard which has several statistical layers, the one shown here being the highest traffic view into the streamflow conditions. National Water Dashboard will be working on some enhancements to provide some pre-built configurations of map layers for easy views into common use cases like flooding or drought.

Simpler maps are also important to provide context when we have lists of locations. Coming soon we will provide a state latest conditions page to provide details on all locations in each state, with the capability to easily change which parameter is shown on the map with statistical context.

Interested in groundwater data? The experimental national web application (GWATLAS2) offers maps of current groundwater levels with historical context, including site-level reports provide quick access to graph and summary data.

Where can I view latest conditions and weather events?

In addition to statistical layers, the National Water Dashboard (see above) also contains several layers to view weather conditions including hurricane cones, radar, and National Weather Service flood status.

For locations with continuous gage height data, Monitoring Location Pages include the National Weather Service flood status to indicate flooding conditions.

Where can I find data not mentioned in the earlier categories?

We are dedicated to continual improvement, and while the legacy pages are decommissioned, the work to improve the modernized pages is not finished. We are regularly adding new features based on user feedback.

Some legacy features such as peaks and ratings do not have a proposed timeline for modernization. These features will be available through the legacy systems.

If you’re not sure where to start, we recommend checking out our new WDFN home page or the new USGS Water Data APIs page. These pages highlight the tools we provide to help you access the water data you need.

We’re here to help

We understand that change is hard, and some of these changes might feel sudden. We’re here to help. We have staff ready to help you make the transition should you need it. Please reach out to us at wdfn@usgs.gov with any questions. You can get regular updates about the modernization and decommission effort sent to your inbox by subscribing to the Water Data for the Nation newsletter .