Northern California Coast Groundwater Quality Study Data Released
This USGS report can be found online.
Groundwater quality was tested in the 633-square-mile Northern Coast Ranges study area in Napa, Lake, Mendocino, Glenn, Humboldt, and Del Norte Counties.
In total, 239 natural and man-made compounds and 12 field groundwater-quality indicators were measured.
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The study was conducted by the USGS California Water Science Center and USGS National Water-Quality Assessment Program from June to November 2009, as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) Groundwater Ambient Monitoring and Assessment (GAMA) Program.
The main goals of the GAMA Program are to improve groundwater monitoring in California, and to increase the availability of groundwater-quality data to the public. The data collected is used for three types of water-quality assessments: (1) Status—assessment of the current quality of the groundwater resource; (2) Understanding—identification of the natural and human factors affecting groundwater quality; and (3) Trends—detection of changes in groundwater quality.
A report "Groundwater-Quality Data in the Northern Coast Ranges Study Unit, 2009: Results from the California GAMA Program" containing non-interpreted data for this study area is available online.
The report describes in detail, the study design and methods, the hydrogeologic setting of the study area, the analytic results for groundwater samples collected, and the results of quality control analysis.
Links and contacts within this release are valid at the time of publication.
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