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A century of activity and publication of more than 860 water-resources related reports for the State of Arizona demonstrate an historical role for the U.S. Geological Survey in the hydrologic community. These reports continue to serve as the foundation of hydrologic knowledge for the State. Additionally, hydrologic historians will note (1) the evolution and sophistication of the investigative and interpretive tools used to collect and transfer hydrologic data knowledge to the water-user community and (2) a strong and steadfast nonregulatory stance in the midst of highly controversial and political issues. The justification for this stance is simple the need has existed and will continue to exist for an unbiased entity such as the U.S. Geological Survey to produce credible scientific information. Major national water issues for the Water Resources Division during fiscal years 1986-91 correspond well to water issues in the State of Arizona. These issues are (1) water availability and competition for this water, (2) quality of water, and (3) management of water and land resources. Studies being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey and described in this publication are, for the most part, in support of providing data and interpretation to address these issues. As an agency, we are aware of and dedicated to the premise that credible data are obtained only when subjected to consistent, discipline-related, quality-assurance programs. Throughout the Water Resources Division, continuous quality-assurance programs are conducted for all the activities that influence and ensure the quality of our products and services. Relevant and complex studies conducted by the Arizona District include radionuclide contamination in the Puerco River basin and migration of acid mine drainage in the Final Creek basin in central Arizona. In the lower Colorado River basin, a new method of estimating and distributing consumptive uses of Colorado River water for each user has been developed and work is underway to refine and improve the new method. Looking to the future, the Arizona District is seeking opportunities to develop a means of quickly and economically tracking changes in the quantities of ground water in storage. The use of sensitive gravity meters has shown great promise and when developed could greatly reduce the cost and time of using water-level measurements in individual wells. In a situation where "safe yield" is a management objective, this new method could be a valuable tool. With regard to groundwater contamination, we are seeking opportunities to evaluate the effectiveness of developing technologies in bio-remediation. The present use of "pump and treat" is proving extraordinarily expensive and of limited effectiveness. Another topic of interest is in monitoring and simulation modeling of land subsidence resulting from groundwater withdrawals. In areas where subsidence has been significant, the effects on the operation and integrity of water distribution and drainage systems have been substantial and expensive. Predictive...

The collection of hydrologic data and the investigation and assessment of the quantity, quality, and use of surface-and groundwater resources are major components of the mission of the Water Resources Division, U.S. Geological Survey. To accomplish this mission the Arizona District is organized into a district office in Tucson and field offices in Tempe, Flagstaff, and Yuma, Arizona. These offices are geographically located in the State to provide access and response to hydrologic events and to maintain liaison with cooperating State and Federal agencies. The Arizona District technical staff is organized into two major sections: (1) the Hydrologic Data Section, which maintains the systematic hydrologic-data programs for the State, and (2) the Hydrologic Investigations and Research Section, which investigates and assesses the quantity, quality, and use of the State's water resources. The Hydrologic Data Section maintains a network of hydrologic data-collection sites and compiles hydrologic data collected from these sites for public distribution. These hydrologic data include records of (1) stage and discharge of principal river and tributaries; (2) chemistry and suspended-sediment concentration of selected rivers; (3) levels and quality of principal aquifers; and (4) surface-and groundwater use. Data from this network are compiled and entered in the Survey's National Water Information System data base, located in Reston, Virginia, and are published annually in the report series "Water Resources Data Arizona." The Hydrologic Data Section has made substantial progress in developing a real-time hydrologic data base. Surfaceand groundwater data at selected sites are transmitted to the Arizona District's central hydrologic data base at regular intervals using satellite telemetry. This information is accessible to scientists or water managers to assess current hydrologic conditions. The Water Resources Division (WRD) will implement the National Water Information System-II (NWIS-II) during 1995. This database system will replace the database systems currently in use. NWIS-II will provide data-handling and data-storage procedures that are uniform across all disciplines of WRD, will serve as an archive for all data used in published products, will provide a national water data base and index, and will comply with industry software and data standards. The investigation and assessment of the surface-and groundwater resources of Arizona is accomplished through a series of projects conducted by the Hydrologic Investigations and Research Section. Each project is managed by a designated project chief who is responsible for managing the investigative aspects of the project, maintaining a project budget, and providing public access to the findings of the project. Program emphasis for the Arizona District in 1995 96 is to provide timely, objective hydrologic information to Federal, Tribal, State, and local agencies regarding water-supply availability, water-source identification, and water-resource management. Programs are expected...

The collection of hydrologic data and the investigation of the quantity, quality, and use of surface-and ground-water resources are major components of the mission of the Water Resources Division (WRD), U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). To accomplish this mission, the Arizona District is organized into a District office in Tucson and field offices in Tempe, Flagstaff, and Yuma, Arizona. These offices are geographically located in the State to provide access and response to hydrologic events and to maintain liaison with cooperating State and Federal agencies. The Arizona District technical staff is organized into two major sections: (1) the Hydrologic Data Section, which maintains the systematic hydrologic-data programs for the State, and (2) the Hydrologic Investigations and Research Section, which investigates and assesses the quantity, quality, and use of the State's water resources.The Hydrologic Data Section maintains a network of hydrologic data-collection sites and compiles hydrologic data collected from these sites for public distribution. These hydrologic data include records of (1) stage and discharge of principal rivers and tributaries; (2) chemistry and suspended-sediment concentration of selected rivers; (3) water levels and quality of the water in the principal aquifers; and (4) surface-and ground-water use. Data from this network are compiled and entered into the District data base and published annually in the report series "Water Resources Data Arizona." To provide a single point of retrieval for the public, data from this network also are compiled on the USGS World Wide Web server, located in Reston, Virginia (water.usgs.gov). The Hydrologic Data Section has made substantial progress in developing a real-time hydrologic data base. Surface-water data from selected sites are transmitted to the Arizona District's central hydrologic data base at regular intervals using satellite telemetry. This information is accessible to scientists or water managers to assess current hydrologic conditions. Real-time stream-discharge data for 121 streamflow-gaging stations are available at the Arizona District home page on the World Wide Web at http://wwwdaztcn.ivr.usgs.gov.The updated version of the National Water-Information System (NWIS) was installed in all WRD offices in 1997. This version is a Unix-based system that runs on the Data General platform. This release includes improvements for the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) study, programs to retrieve real-time data for display on the World Wide Web, and programs to facilitate management of real-time data. As this report was being compiled, the Arizona NWIS staff was working on another NWIS release scheduled for December 1997 that would include performance and technical improvements.The investigation and assessment of the surface-and ground-water resources of Arizona is accomplished through a series of projects conducted by the Hydrologic Investigations and Research Section. Each project is managed by a designated project chief who is responsible for ma...