Water Data for New York State (USGS)

USGS New York State Water Data (external site)

Background

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) has a network of real-time monitoring stations located along many waterways in New York State. These stations automatically collect data every 15-60 minutes. The data is stored onsite at the remote monitoring station and transmitted to USGS offices every 1-4 hours.

By following the steps below, you can use the USGS website to view New York State water data from 2007 to 2014. There are several monitoring stations recording data along the Hudson River (e.g., Green Island, Albany, Poughkeepsie, West Point, Piermont) and along Hudson River tributaries (e.g., Mohawk River, Catskill Creek, Esopus Creek, Rondout Creek, Wappinger Creek).

1. Click on the link above to open the USGS Current Water Data for New York website.
2. Hover over the map of New York State and click on the colored dot for the site you're interested in (e.g., Wappinger Creek on the western edge of Dutchess County).
3. Scroll down to view the graphs for the parameters available at the site you selected. By default, the graphs will display the data collected over the past 7 days.
4. Above the graphs, there is a box that shows the parameters available (e.g., discharge, gage height, water temperature, specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity), the available time period for each parameter, options to change the output format for the data, and the time period to display (choose either a number of days or a specific begin and end date). Once you have selected the options that you wish to display, click GO.
5. To save a graph you created on the USGS website, click the create stand-alone graph option below the graph. This will open up a clean version of your graph. Right-click the graph, choose Save Image As, use the dialog box that appears to browse to the folder where you want to save the graph, and then click Save.

Note: Some of the data from the past three years may show up as "provisional data subject to revision." This is because the data were collected automatically by a real-time monitoring station and need to be approved by a scientist. The USGS website states that improbable values have been prevented from appearing in the data posted online.

Data Sampling & Compilation

Data Source: U.S. Geological Survey, 2014, National Water Information System.

Level: 3