Selected Water-Resources Activities of the

U.S. Geological Survey in New England in 2017

The New England Water Science Center of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is headquartered in Pembroke, New Hampshire, 

with offices in East Hartford, Connecticut; Augusta, Maine; Northborough, Massachusetts; and Montpelier, Vermont. The areas of 

expertise covered by the water science center’s staff of 130 include aquatic biology, chemistry, geographic information systems, 

geology, hydrologic sciences and engineering, and water use.

The USGS New England Water Science Center conducts 

hydrologic monitoring programs and water-resources investigations in partnership with more than 100 cooperators, who provide financial and technical support. The center cooperates with 

a wide range of agencies and other entities, including:

• more than 40 municipalities;

• State departments of transportation;

• State departments of environmental protection, conservation, and services;

• Native American tribes;

• Federal agencies, including the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency, 

National Park Service, Environmental Protection 

Agency, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration; and

• international agencies such as the International Joint 

Commission (United States and Canada).

The center was established in 2012 through the merger of 

the four separate water science centers in Connecticut, Maine, 

Massachusetts-Rhode Island, and New Hampshire-Vermont. 

The merger retains USGS operations and offices in these former 

locations, while fostering greater integration of our activities. 

The new structure also makes available a wider range of scientific capabilities to each of the States, to better meet cooperator 

needs. Finally, the merger minimizes duplication of effort and 

provides a common voice for our regional and Federal partners 

in New England.

Selected Regional-Scale USGS Water-Resource 

Activities in New England

• Monitor streamflow at more than 440 sites throughout 

New England for flood forecasting, water-quality protection, drought tracking, and other purposes.

• Monitor groundwater at nearly 300 observation wells for 

water-resources management and drought tracking.

• Establish more than 200 sites along the New England 

coastline to monitor storm surges from tropical storms and 

Nor’easters.

• Produce new flood hazard maps for the general public and 

emergency managers, using state-of-the-art topographic 

and hydrologic information.

• Evaluate how changes in New England and the Nation’s 

waters reflect changes in climate and variations in watershed characteristics.

• Assess groundwater, surface-water, and stream habitat 

quality at State, regional and national scales.

• Quantify domestic, industrial, irrigation and other types of 

water use in New England.

Low Medium High

Current streamflow conditions

EXPLANATION

Figure 1. The U.S. Geological Survey operates a network of

streamgages in New England, shown by circles on the map. The 

color of each circle indicates the streamflow for May 2017 at each 

streamgage, relative to the long-term median May streamflow at 

each streamgage. Circles with no color have less than 30 years of 

data. Photograph showing hydrographer measuring flood; by U.S. 

Geological Survey.

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2017–3049

June 2017
Selected State- and Local-Scale Water-Resources 

Activities in New England

Connecticut

• Apply new USGS statistical methods to evaluate water-quality 

trends and long-term progress in reducing stream nitrogen 

loads to Long Island Sound (with the Connecticut Department 

of Energy and Environmental Protection).

• Develop an interactive, map-based tool to estimate daily time 

series of streamflows at any stream location, with and without 

the effects of water use (with the Connecticut Department of 

Energy and Environmental Protection).

• Assess the distribution and concentrations of arsenic and 

uranium in private bedrock wells in Connecticut in relation to 

water-quality standards for drinking water (with the Connecticut Department of Public Health).

Maine

• Create a USGS StreamStats application for Maine, allowing 

users to estimate flood flows at any stream location in the 

State (with the Maine Department of Transportation).

• Model the effects of projected temperature and precipitation 

changes on the magnitude and timing of streamflows in the 

Meduxnekeag River watershed of northern Maine (with the 

Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians).

• Analyze effects of flood management alternatives in the 

Great Meadow wetland at Acadia National Park, an important 

historic and ecological landscape (with the National Park 

Service).

Massachusetts

• Evaluate changes in groundwater nitrogen concentrations 

resulting from nutrient reduction measures on Cape Cod (with 

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Cape Cod 

Commission).

• Assess, by using an automated station, loads of nutrients and 

metals transported daily in the Blackstone River from Massachusetts to Rhode Island (with the Massachusetts Department 

of Environmental Protection).

• Assess how impervious cover and other landscape factors 

affect biotic variability in streams in Massachusetts (with the 

Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection).

 New Hampshire

By Peter Weiskel

Contacts

U.S. Geological Survey

New England Water Science Center and New Hampshire-Vermont office

Keith Robinson, Director

Telephone: (603) 226–7807 (office)

(603) 986–2327 (cell phone)

Email: kwrobins@usgs.gov

Website: https://newengland.water.usgs.gov/

Maine office

Robert Lent

Telephone: (207) 622–6602

Email: rmlent@usgs.gov

Massachusetts-Rhode Island office

Matt Ely

Telephone: (508) 490–5040

Email: mely@usgs.gov

Connecticut office

Jon Morrison

Telephone: (860) 291–6761

Email: jmorriso@usgs.gov Page 1 banner: Charles River dam, Natick, Massachusetts.

Photograph by Mark V. Bonito, U.S. Geological Survey.

Page 2: Tuckerman Ravine, White Mountains, New Hampshire.

Photograph by Sam Banas, U.S. Geological Survey.

ISSN 2327-6932 (online)

https://doi.org/10.3133/fs20173049