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Professional Paper 1749

National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Water-Quality Assessment of the High Plains Aquifer, 1999–2004

By Peter B. McMahon, Kevin F. Dennehy, Breton W. Bruce, Jason J. Gurdak, and Sharon L. Qi

Coverpage and link to Table of Contents PDF (9.3 MB)

The volume comprises text chapters (listed below and in column at right).

Water quality of the High Plains aquifer was assessed for the period 1999–2004 as part of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. This effort represents the first systematic regional assessment of water quality in this nationally important aquifer. A stratified, nested group of studies was designed to assess linkages between the quality of water recharging the aquifer, the effect of transport through the hydrologic system on water quality, and the quality of the resource used for human consumption and agricultural applications. The stratified, nested design facilitated upscaling of monitoring results to unmonitored areas of the aquifer as well as upscaling of process understanding from local to regional scales.

Version 1.0

Posted December 2007


Suggested citation:

McMahon, Peter B., Dennehy, Kevin F., Bruce, Breton W., Gurdak, Jason J., and Qi, Sharon L., 2007, Water-quality assessment of the High Plains Aquifer, 1999–2004: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1749, 136 p.



Front Matter (9.3 MB)—incudes a Volume Contents that contain PDF links to the chapters, which is defined below:

Volume Contents

Foreword

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose and Scope

Acknowledgments

Description of Study Area

Population

Land Use / Land Cover

Water Use

Geohydrology

Summary of Previous Water-Quality Studies

Water-Quality Assessment of the High Plains Aquifer

Chapter 1. Sources—Quality of Recently Recharged Water in the High Plains Aquifer

Chapter 2. Transport—Linking the Chemistry of Recharge and the Used Resource in the High Plains Aquifer

Chapter 3. Receptors—Quality of the Used Resource in the High Plains Aquifer

Chapter 4. Water Quality and the Availability and Sustainability of Water Supplies in the High Plains Aquifer

Summary

Selected References

Appendix 1. Reports published as part of, or in cooperation with, the High Plains Regional Ground-Water study

Appendix 2. Water Quality of the High Plains Aquifer in a National Context