Florida Water Science Center
The mission of the Water Discipline, which supports the overall mission of the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S. Geological Survey, is to provide the hydrologic information and understanding needed for the best use and management of the Nation's water resources for the benefit of the people of the United States.
The USGS provides current ("real-time") stream stage and streamflow (558 sites), water-quality (143 sites), and groundwater levels for 222 sites in Florida.
NOTICE (9/12/2011) -- Funding secured for a portion of the network but proposed budget cuts may still result in loss of some critical streamgages.
Data collection at streamgaging, groundwater, and water-quality sites may be discontinued on October 1, 2011. No funding source to support these sites in fiscal year 2012 has yet been identified. Although historic data will remain accessible, no new data will be collected unless one or more new funding partners are found. Users who are willing to contribute funding to continue operation of these streamgages should contact Richard Kane of the USGS Florida Water Science Center (813-498-5057, rkane@usgs.gov).
USGS Florida Science Highlights
Factors that Influence the Hydrologic Recovery of Wetlands in the Northern Tampa Bay Area, Florida
 Reductions in groundwater withdrawals from Northern Tampa Bay well fields were initiated in mid-2002 to improve the hydrologic condition of wetlands in these areas by allowing surface and groundwater levels to recover to previously higher levels. Following these reductions, water levels at some long-term wetland monitoring sites have recovered, while others have not recovered as expected. To understand why water levels for some wetlands have not increased, nine wetlands with varying impacts from well field pumping were examined based on four factors known to influence the hydrologic condition of wetlands in west-central Florida. These factors are the level of the potentiometric surface of the Upper Floridan aquifer underlying the wetland, recent karst activity near and beneath the wetland, permeability of the underlying sediments, and the topographic position of the wetland in the landscape.
 Find out more
Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5127
USGS WaterAlert
 The U.S. Geological Survey WaterAlert service sends e-mail or text messages when certain parameters measured by a USGS water-monitoring site exceed user-definable thresholds. You can subscribe to Florida water-monitoring sites and be alerted when high water hits.
Florida WaterWatch
Maps Deliver Current Streamflow Conditions
 A Google-Map based Web page to deliver map-based current surface-water resources conditions in Florida was recently added.
The maps utilize zoom and pan to allow you to focus in on the water-monitoring sites that interest you. Maps and data about current and past streamflow, floods, and drought are available.
Florida Weather
New Publication
Scientific Investigations Report 2011–5130
Water Withdrawals, Wastewater Discharge, and Water Consumption in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins, 2005, and Water-Use Trends, 1970–2005
 The Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin covers about 20,500 square miles that drains parts of Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. The basin extends from its headwaters northern Georgia to the Gulf of Mexico. Population in the basin was estimated to be 3.7 million in 2005, an increase of about 41 percent from the 1990 population of 2.6 million. In 2005, slightly more than 721,000 acres of crops were irrigated within the basin.
In 2005, the total amount of water withdrawn in the ACF River Basin was about 1,990 million gallons per day (Mgal/d). Of this, surface water accounted for 1,591 Mgal/d (80 percent) and groundwater accounted for 399 Mgal/d (20 percent). Surface water was the primary water source of withdrawals in the northern and central parts of the basin, and groundwater was the primary source in the southern part. The largest surface-water withdrawals was from Cobb County, Georgia (410 Mgal/d, mostly from the Chattahoochee River and Lake Alatoona), and the largest groundwater withdrawals was from Dougherty County, Georgia (38 Mgal/d, mostly from the Upper Floridan aquifer system).
Find out more
Recent Publications
 Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5130—Water Withdrawals, Wastewater Discharge, and Water Consumption in the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint River Basins, 2005, and Water-Use Trends, 1970–2005
 Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5127—Factors that Influence the Hydrologic Recovery of Wetlands in the Northern Tampa Bay Area, Florida
 Fact Sheet 2011-3094—USGS Research on Florida's Isolated Freshwater Wetlands
 Open-File Report 2011-1037—Multiple Technologies Applied to Characterization of the Porosity and Permeability of the Biscayne Aquifer, Florida
 Scientific Investigations Report 2011-5034—Magnitude and Frequency of Floods for Rural Streams in Florida, 2006
 View our recent publications.
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U.S. Geological Survey
