For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit
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.
For more information on the USGS-the Federal source for science about the Earth, its natural and living resources, natural hazards, and the environment, visit http://www.usgs.gov or call 1-888-ASK-USGS.For an overview of USGS information products, including maps, imagery, and publications, visit http://www.usgs.gov/pubprodTo order this and other USGS information products, visit
Map showing potentiometric surface and generalized flow directions in hydrogeologic units, upper Yakima River Basin, Kittitas County, central Washington ...43 23. Scatter plot showing hydraulic conductivity in fractured bedrock as estimated over increasingly larger physical dimensions from discrete-interval, single hole hydraulic tests, cross-hole hydraulic tests, and regional groundwater-flow models,
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