Water Resources of Nebraska

Real-Time Streamflow Sites

Welcome to the USGS Web page for the Nebraska Water Science Center (WSC). Here you'll find information on Nebraska's rivers and streams, ground water, water quality, and many other topics. The USGS operates the most extensive satellite network of stream-gaging stations in the state, many of which form the backbone of flood-warning systems.

The USGS provides current ("real-time") stream stage and streamflow, water-quality, and ground-water levels for over 130 sites in Nebraska.

Nebraska Water Science Center Highlights

New USGS report updates High Plains aquifer groundwater levels

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has released a new report updating its data on groundwater level changes in the High Plains aquifer.

The High Plains aquifer is a nationally important water resource that underlies about 174,000 square miles in parts of eight western states—Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Wyoming. The aquifer serves as the primary source of drinking water for most residents of the region and sustains more than one-fourth of the Nation’s agricultural production.

The new report presents water-level-change data in the aquifer from the time period prior to significant groundwater irrigation development (about 1950) to 2007. Area-weighted average water-level change in the entire aquifer was a decline of 14.0 feet from predevelopment to 2007, a decline of 0.4 foot from 2005 to 2006, and a decline of 0.6 foot from 2006 to 2007.

"In Nebraska, water-level changes from predevelopment to 2007 in wells ranged between a rise of 84 feet and a decline of 71 feet," USGS Hydrologist Virginia McGuire said. "Area-weighted, average water-level change in the aquifer in Nebraska was a decline of 1.0 feet from predevelopment to 2007, a decline of 0.1 foot from 2005 to 2006, and a decline of 0.2 foot from 2006 to 2007."

In the aquifer, water-level changes in wells from predevelopment to 2007 ranged between a rise of 84 feet for a well in Nebraska and a decline of 234 feet for a well in Texas.

In 2007, the total amount of drainable water in the aquifer was about 2.9 billion acre-feet, a decline of about 270 million acre-feet, or about 9 percent, since predevelopment. An acre-foot of water is equivalent to the volume of water that would cover one acre to a depth of 1 foot.

The USGS has published reports on water-level changes in the High Plains Aquifer annually from 1988 to 2002 and biannually from 2003 to 2007. Congress requested these reports in response to large areas of substantial water-level declines (greater than 100 feet) in parts of the aquifer by 1980. The program has allowed water-level changes in all eight states to be tracked over time and has provided data critical to evaluating different options for groundwater management. This level of coordinated groundwater-level monitoring is unique among major, multi-state regional aquifers in the country.

View the full report or a two-page abbreviated version.