National Water Information System (NWISWeb)

The new National Water Information System (NWISWeb) of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) provides access to data from over 1.5 million ground water well and surface water sites in the United States. NWISWeb system is a new system that was based on the effort/development from several other USGS water related web systems: the national system for historic streamflow data (NWIS-W); the real-time streamflow data system; and several development efforts that were established in USGS districts. Spatial coverage includes the conterminous United States, Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

NWISWeb provides Internet access to real-time or historical streamflow and stage data, lake, reservoir and ground water data, water-quality data, and site information. The NWISWeb can be queried online to access the following data and information:

Real-Time Water Data for the Nation -- This link provides access to current-conditions data transmitted from selected surface-water, ground-water, and water-quality sites. Users can view maps of real-time streamflow and data tables of real-time streamflow by predefined displays. Users can also build a custom summary table for one or more stations, or build a custom sequence of graphical or tabular data for one or more stations. Data can be grouped by county, state, or hydrologic parameter.

Surface-Water Data for the Nation -- Nationally, USGS surface-water data includes more than 850,000 station years of time-series data that describe stream levels, streamflow (discharge), reservoir and lake levels, surface-water quality, and rainfall. The data are collected by automatic recorders and manual measurements at field installations across the Nation. Data access categories include: (1) Real Time Data (data for selected sites recorded at 5-60 minute intervals -- may include surface-water, ground-water, water-quality, and meteorological parameters); (2) Recent Data (provisional daily data for the previous 18 months -- includes published streamflow; (3) Daily Streamflow (data for the period of record at each site, including historical streamflow data); (4) Daily, Monthly, and Calendar Year Streamflow Statistics (computed from published daily data); (5) Peak Streamflow (annual maximum instantaneous peak streamflow and gage height); and (6) Measurements (field measurements of streamflow and gage height).

Ground-Water Data for the Nation -- The ground-water database contains ground-water site inventory, ground-water level data, and water-quality data. Data access categories include: (1) Real Time Data [data transmitted from selected ground-water sites for depth below land surface (water level, in feet) and elevation above ngvd (feet)]; (2) Ground-water Site Inventory (descriptive site information including latitude, longitude, well depth, and site use); and Ground-water Levels (depth to water or water-surface elevation in wells).

Water-Quality Data for the Nation -- The NWISWeb discrete sample database is a compilation of over 3.5 million historical water quality analyses of chemical, physical, and biological properties of water, sediment and tissue samples from streams, lakes, springs, and wells across the Nation. The data are current through September 1999. The discrete sample data is a large and complex set of data that has been collected by a variety of projects ranging from national programs to studies in small watersheds. Data include real-time water quality data (real-time water-quality data are returned directly from field instruments) and water quality samples (water-quality data from field and/or laboratory analysis of water, biological tissue, stream sediments, and other environmental samples).

Site Inventory System -- The inventory contains information about sites at stream reaches, wells, test holes, springs, tunnels, drains, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, excavations, and water-use facilities.