There is a wide range of other applications of water-use data. For example, the Forest Service, using USGS automated water-use estimates at the county level, examined a series of relations among changing patterns of demography, economics, and water use. The Forest Service and the Natural Resource Conservation Service are also using the USGS water-use data system to help forcast water demand for assessing the future of the Nation's natural resources. Model Environmental Information System for the San Francisco Bay Ecosystem Figure 7a. The USGS research vessel Polaris, a floating laboratory dedicated to San Francisco Bay research and monitoring for over 30 years.
Biologist takes a water sample.
Biologist determines oxygen concentrations in San Francisco Bay. California's San Francisco Bay estuary and delta have been radically altered over the past 150 years by mining and agriculture in the Bay's watershed, diversion of fresh water, filling of bay wetlands, urban and industrial expansion, dredging of bay channels and harbors, waste disposal, and the introduction of exotic species. The information and data from this study are being made available at a USGS website that provides an overall description of the USGS water-quality program in San Francisco Bay, the most recent water quality condition of the Bay, and summaries of seasonal changes over 3 recent years. The goal is to make the full 30-year record of data available by the end of 1998. The data are being organized and displayed for ready use by decision makers and the regulatory activities of Federal, State, and local agencies with regard to waste allocation, land use, establishing water quality standards, evaluating environmental impacts of dredging and spoils disposal, developing wetlands restoration strategies, protecting endangered species, and managing fresh water inflows.