Select Groundwater-Quality and Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project 2019 to Present (ver. 4.0, April 2025)

Groundwater samples were collected and analyzed from 1,015 wells as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Project of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Program and the water-quality data and quality-control data are included in this data release. The samples were collected from three types of well networks: principal aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of groundwater used for public water supply; land-use study networks, which are used to assess land-use effects on shallow groundwater quality; and major aquifer study networks, which are used to assess the quality of groundwater used for domestic supply. Groundwater samples were analyzed for a large number of water-quality indicators and constituents, including nutrients, major ions, trace elements, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), pesticides, radionuclides, and microbial indicators. Data from samples collected between 2012 and 2019 are associated with networks described in a collection of data series reports and associated data releases (Arnold and others, 2016a,b, 2017a,b, 2018a,b, 2020a,b; Kingsbury and others, 2020 and 2021). This data release includes data from networks sampled in 2019 through 2023. For some networks, certain constituent group data were not completely reviewed and released by the analyzing laboratory for all network sites in time for publication of this data release. For networks with incomplete data, no data were published for the incomplete constituent group(s). Datasets excluded from this data release because of incomplete results will be included in the earliest data release published after the dataset is complete. NOTE: While previous versions are available from the author, all the records in previous versions can be found in version 4.0. 
First posted - December 12, 2021 (available from author)
Revised - January 27, 2023 (version 2.0: available from author)
Revised - November 2, 2023 (version 3.0: available from author)
Revised - April 18, 2025 (version 4.0)
The compressed file (NWQP_GW_QW_DataRelease_v4.zip) contains 24 files: 23 files of groundwater-quality, quality-control data, and general information in ASCII text tab-delimited format, and one corresponding metadata file in xml format that includes descriptions of all the tables and attributes. A shapefile containing study areas for each of the sampled groundwater networks also is provided in folder NWQP_GW_QW_Network_Boundaries_v4 of this data release and is described in the metadata (Network_Boundaries_v4.zip). The 23 data files are as follows:
Description_of_Data_Fields_v4.txt: Information for all constituents and ancillary information found in Tables 3 through 21.
Network_Reference_List_v4.txt: References used for the description of the networks sampled by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Project.
Table_1_site_list_v4.txt: Information about wells that have environmental data.
Table_2_parameters_v4.txt: Constituent primary uses and sources; laboratory analytical schedules and sampling period; USGS parameter codes (pcodes); comparison thresholds; and reporting levels.
Table_3_qw_indicators_v4.txt: Water-quality indicators in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_4_nutrients_v4.txt: Nutrients and dissolved organic carbon in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_5_major_ions_v4.txt: Major and minor ions in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_6_trace_elements_v4.txt: Trace elements in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_7_vocs_v4.txt: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_8_pesticides_v4.txt: Pesticides in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_9_radchem_v4.txt: Radionuclides in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_10_micro_v4.txt: Microbiological indicators in groundwater samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_11_qw_ind_QC_v4.txt: Water-quality indicators in groundwater replicate samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_12_nuts_QC_v4.txt: Nutrients and dissolved organic carbon in groundwater blank and replicate samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_13_majors_QC_v4.txt: Major and minor ions in groundwater blank and replicate samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_14_trace_element_QC_v4.txt: Trace elements in groundwater blank and replicate samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_15_vocs_QC_v4.txt: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater blank, replicate, and spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_16_pesticides_QC_v4.txt: Pesticide compounds in groundwater blank, replicate, and spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_17_radchem_QC_v4.txt: Radionuclides in groundwater replicate samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_18_micro_QC_v4.txt: Microbiological indicators in groundwater blank, replicate, and spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_19_TE_SpikeStats_v4.txt: Statistics for trace elements in groundwater spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_20_VOCLabSpikeStats_v4.txt: Statistics for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in groundwater spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
Table_21_PestFieldSpikeStats_v4.txt: Statistics for pesticide compounds in groundwater spike samples collected by the USGS NAWQA Project.
References
Arnold, T.L., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, MaryLynn, Lindsey, B.D., Stackelberg, P.E., Barlow, J.R., DeSimone, L.A., Kulongoski, J.T., Kingsbury, J.A., Ayotte, J.D., Fleming, B.J., and Belitz, Kenneth, 2017a, Groundwater-quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2014 and select quality-control data from May 2012 through December 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1063, 83 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1063.
Arnold, T.L., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, MaryLynn, Lindsey, B.D., Stackelberg, P.E., Barlow, J.R., DeSimone, L.A., Kulongoski, J.T., Kingsbury, J.A., Ayotte, J.D., Fleming, B.J., and Belitz, Kenneth, 2017b, Datasets from Groundwater quality data from the National Water Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2014 and select quality-control data from May 2012 through December 2014: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7W0942N.
Arnold, T.L., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, M., Erickson, M.L., Kingsbury, J.A., Degnan, J.R., Tesoriero, A.J., Kulongoski, J.T., and Belitz, K., 2020a, Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2015: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1124, 135 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1124.
Arnold, T.L., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, M., Lindsey, B.D., Stackelberg, P.E., Lindsey, B.D., Barlow, J.R., Kulongoski, J.T., and Belitz, K., 2018b, Datasets from Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015 and Previously Unpublished Data from 2013-2014, U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7XK8DHK.
Arnold, T.L., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, M., Stackelberg, P.E., Lindsey, B.D., Kingsbury, J.A., Kulongoski, J.T., and Belitz, K., 2018a, Groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2015, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2014: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1087, 68 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1087.
Arnold, T.L., DeSimone, L.A., Bexfield, L.M., Lindsey, B.D., Barlow, J.R., Kulongoski, J.T., Musgrove, MaryLynn, Kingsbury, J.A., and Belitz, Kenneth, 2016a, Groundwater quality data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, May 2012 through December 2013 (ver. 1.1, November 2016): U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 997, 56 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds997.
Arnold, T.L., DeSimone, L.A., Bexfield, L.M., Lindsey, B.D., Barlow, J.R., Kulongoski, J.T., Musgrove, MaryLynn, Kingsbury, J.A., and Belitz, Kenneth, 2016b, Groundwater quality data from the National Water Quality Assessment Project, May 2012 through December 2014 and select quality-control data from May 2012 through December 2013: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7HQ3X18.
Arnold, T.L., Sharpe, J.B., Bexfield, L.M., Musgrove, M., Erickson, M.L., Kingsbury, J.A., Degnan, J.R., Tesoriero, A.J., Kulongoski, J.T., and Belitz, K., 2020b, Datasets from groundwater-quality and select quality-control data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January through December 2016, and previously unpublished data from 2013 to 2015: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9W4RR74.
Kingsbury, J.A., Sharpe, J.B., Bexfield, L.M., Arnold, T.L., Musgrove, M., Erickson, M.L., Degnan, J.R., Kulongoski, J.T., Lindsey, B.D., and Belitz, K., 2020, Datasets from Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January 2017 through December 2019 (ver. 1.1, January 2021): U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9XATXV1.
Kingsbury, J.A., Bexfield, L.M., Arnold, T.L., Musgrove, M., Erickson, M.L., Degnan, J.R., Tesoriero, A.J., Lindsey B.D., and Belitz, K., 2021, Groundwater-Quality and Select Quality-Control Data from the National Water-Quality Assessment Project, January 2017 through December 2019: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series 1136, 97 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ds1136.

Tags: cycle-3, domestic-supply, groundwater, inlandwaters, nawqa, principal-aquifer, public-water-supply, usgs-606f0b21d34ef99870188821, water-quality
Organization: Department of the Interior