Lower left: Map showing select groups of wells with similar hydraulic response within portions of the Umatilla Basin, Oregon. Hydrographs showing the trend lines of spring median water levels for select groups of wells with similar hydraulic response in the Umatilla Basin, Oregon (East-West groups). (See figures 10 and 11B, respectively, in the report.) Center foreground: Map showing distribution of groundwater-level trends in the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System for the period 1968-2009. Red circles indicate groundwater-level declines, yellow circles indicate little or no change in groundwater levels, and blue circles indicate groundwater-level rises. Circle size is representative of magnitude of change. (See figure 8 in the report.) Lower right: Map showing select groups of wells with similar hydraulic response within portions of the Palouse Slope and the Columbia Basin Ground Water Management Area, Washington. Hydrographs showing the trend lines of spring median water levels for groups of wells with similar hydraulic response in the vicinity of the Palouse Slope and the Columbia Basin Ground Water Management Area, Washington (Eastern Flowpath groups). (See figures 15 and 17, respectively, in the report) Background: Photograph of Frenchman's Coulee in the vicinity of Quincy, Washington.
Although often overlooked, groundwater is increasingly important to all our lives. Groundwater is the Nation's principal reserve of freshwater. It provides one-half of our drinking water and is essential to U.S. food production while facilitating business and industry in promoting economic wellbeing. Groundwater also is an important source of water for sustaining the ecosystem health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country. Large-scale development of groundwater resources with accompanying declines in groundwater levels and other effects of pumping have led to concerns about the future availability of groundwater to meet all our Nation's needs. The depletion of groundwater to satisfy the country's thirst and the compounding effects of recent droughts emphasize the need for an updated status of the Nation's groundwater resources. Assessments of groundwater resources provide the science and information needed by the public and decision makers to evaluate water availability and its effects on the water supply, as well as, to manage and use the water resources responsibly. Adding to this already complex task of resource assessment is the analysis of potential future effects due to climate variability, which can further exacerbate an already challenging situation. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting large-scale multidisciplinary regional studies of groundwater availability, such as this study of the Columbia Plateau Regional Aquifer System. These regional studies are intended to provide citizens, communities, and natural resource managers with (1) improved information and knowledge of the status of the Nation's groundwater resources, (2) how changes in land use, water use, and climate have affected those resources, and (3) tools to forecast how these resources may change in the future. Over time, the findings from these individual regional groundwater assessments of principal aquifers can be scaled up to a national synthesis and scaled down to provide information relevant to issues of local concern. This national scale groundwater assessment directly supports the USGS National Water Census.
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