Collecting a water-quality sample in an urban stream in Virginia. USGS.
Streams and estuaries draining cities commonly show higher stormflows and lower base flows, unstable channels, excess contaminants — pesticides, metals, industrial and municipal waste, combustion products — and altered communities of aquatic life. Together these effects are called the "urban-stream syndrome."
Water managers try to limit the harm from new development and repair it where cities already stand. U.S. Geological Survey researchers have led many studies of urban streams, and increasingly evaluate how streams respond to management and restoration.
What the USGS brings
The Northeast Region Urban Landscapes Capability Team shares expertise locally, regionally and nationally:
- Consistent methods: nationally consistent sampling and continuous monitoring.
- Equipment: specialized automated and passive samplers for rivers, streams, estuaries and groundwater, developed with stakeholders and industry.
- Laboratories: state-of-the-art methods for detecting pharmaceuticals, pesticides and more, at production scale.
- Data: stored in the National Water Information System.
- Analysis: advanced modeling and statistics.
Managers have used these capabilities to judge stormwater infrastructure — including green infrastructure — evaluate wastewater-treatment upgrades, and assess water reuse.
Areas of expertise
| Topic | The problem in cities | USGS work |
|---|---|---|
| Nutrients | eutrophication — from lawn fertilizer, leaking sewers, dense septic systems and more — is common in urban streams, not just farm country | monitoring, modeling loads and trends, tracing sources, testing whether management works |
| Suspended sediment | runoff and eroding channels raise sediment loads, destabilizing streams, degrading habitat and carrying attached contaminants | watershed geomorphic assessment; sediment and contaminant loads, yields and trends; continuous monitoring |
| Toxic substances | pesticides, pharmaceuticals, detergents, fire suppressants, PCBs, metals, and bacteria, viruses and other pathogens harm ecosystems and human health | through the Toxic Substances Hydrology Program, measuring and modeling how contaminants move and break down |
| Contaminants of emerging concern | natural or synthetic chemicals known or suspected to cause harm — possible endocrine disruptors such as hormones, pharmaceuticals and personal-care products — often found in densely populated areas | pioneered many of the sampling and analysis methods |
The USGS SPARROW model's estimate of how much of each area's dissolved-solids load in streams comes from human sources, from 0 to 100 percent — high across the densely populated Northeast. Anning and Flynn (2014), USGS.
Studies under way in 2016
- Fairfax County, Virginia
- Hampton Roads region, Virginia
- Anacostia River, Maryland
- Paint Branch, Maryland
- Bronx and Harlem Rivers, New York
Partnering
State and local agencies can work with the USGS, with matching funds, through the Cooperative Water Program; Federal agencies, universities, nonprofits and others can partner through a variety of programs.
Sources
Based on Contaminants in Urban Waters—Science Capabilities of the U.S. Geological Survey, by John D. Jastram and Kenneth E. Hyer, USGS Fact Sheet 2016–3024, U.S. Geological Survey (DOI), citing Anning and Flynn (2014), USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2014–5012; a work of the United States government in the public domain. The photograph and map come from the fact sheet's PDF.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from pubs.usgs.gov
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