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USGS Water-Quality Data for Massachusetts

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ICE EFFECTS ON STREAMFLOW

The formation of ice on rivers can cause discharge values to appear unusually high. Display of these erroneous discharge data may result in improper assessment of flow conditions and misuse of the data. For this reason, display of discharge values for streams significantly affected by ice may be disabled from view. Display of discharge data will resume when ice conditions are no longer present. Discharge values for streams minimally affected by ice will continue to be displayed. Flows for streams with these conditions appear to increase during the night and decrease to near-base-line conditions around midday. To estimate the correct discharge for these streams, use the flow rate that corresponds to the bottom of the discharge curve, rather than the peak that corresponds to the top of the curve. Note that this method of estimation is possible only when no surface runoff is occurring. Daily mean discharges for periods of both significant and minimal ice-effect will be estimated and published in the Annual Water-Data Report for the water year in which they occurred.


! Discrete water samples data are undergoing modernization with this page no longer being updated with the latest data starting March 11, 2024
with a full decommission expected 6 months later. Learn more about the upcoming change and where to find the new samples data in our blog.

Current Conditions
(15 sites)

Current conditions at selected sites based on the most recent data from on-site automated recording equipment. Measurements are commonly recorded at a fixed interval of 15- to 60-minutes and transmitted to the USGS every hour. Values may include "Approved" (quality-assured data that may be published) and/or more recent "Provisional" data (of unverified accuracy and subject to revision). Most current data are provisional.

Historical Observations
(15 sites)

The same data accessed by the Current Conditions link above but including both active and discontinued sites with data for any part of the period October 1, 2007, through the present. Values may include "Approved" (quality-assured data that may be published) and/or more recent "Provisional" data (of unverified accuracy and subject to revision).

Daily Data
(41 sites)

Summary of all data for each day for the period of record and may represent the daily mean, median, maximum, minimum, and/or other derived value. Values may include "Approved" (quality-assured data that may be published) and/or more recent "Provisional" data (of unverified accuracy and subject to revision).

Statistics
(40 sites)

Statistics are computed from approved daily mean data at each site. These links provide summaries of approved historical daily values for daily, monthly, and annual (water year or calendar year) time periods.

Field/Lab samples
(5,886 sites)

Data from field and/or laboratory analyses of water samples, biological tissue, sediments, or other environmental samples. Data include approved, quality-assured data that may be published, and more recent provisional data, whose accuracy has not been verified.

Introduction

The U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS) National Water Information System (NWIS) is a comprehensive and distributed application that supports the acquisition, processing, and long-term storage of water data. Water Data for the Nation serves as the publicly available portal to a geographically seamless set of much of the water data maintained within NWIS.

The USGS collects and analyzes chemical, physical, and biological properties of water, sediment and tissue samples from across the Nation. The Water Data for the Nation discrete sample data base is a compilation of over 4.4 million historical water quality analyses in the USGS district data bases through September 2005. The discrete sample data are a large and complex set of data that has been collected by a variety of projects ranging from national programs to studies in small watersheds. Additions of more current data, modifications to ancillary information, and enhanced retrieval options to help users find and appropriately use the data they need are planned for a future release of Water Data for the Nation.

At selected surface-water and groundwater sites, the USGS maintains instruments that continuously record physical and chemical characteristics of the water including pH, specific conductance, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and percent dissolved-oxygen saturation. Supporting data such as air temperature and barometric pressure are also available at some sites. At sites where this information is transmitted automatically, data are available from the current data system.

Once a complete day of readings are received from a site, daily summary data are generated and made available online. USGS finalizes data at individual sites on a continuous basis as environmental conditions and hydrologic characteristics permit.

You may find additional water-quality data of interest in EPA STORET.