SUMMARY ARCHIVES

•  Archive of all months
•  Last 12 months
• October 2009
• September 2009
• August 2009
• July 2009
• June 2009
• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008

USGS IN YOUR STATE

USGS Water Science Centers are located in each state.

Summary of February 2009 Monthly Hydrologic Conditions

Compiled in cooperation with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Provisional assessment of hydrologic conditions in New Jersey

February 2009

Precipitation was below normal at all three index stations. Newark reported 0.58 inches, which is 19.59 percent of normal.  Atlantic City reported 0.68 inches, which is 23.68 percent of normal.  Trenton reported 0.64 inches, which is 22.94 percent of normal. Total precipitation over the past 12 months was: 44.15 inches at Newark, which is -2.10 inches below normal; 42.55 inches at Atlantic City, which is 1.96 inches above normal; and 42.00 inches at Trenton, which is 0.61 inches above normal.

Combined storage in the thirteen major water supply reservoirs as of February 28 was 72.57 billion gallons (90.25 percent of capacity), which is lower than the average February contents for the reference period 1961-1990.  The storage was -1.191 billion gallons less than one month ago and -3.882 billion gallons less than one year ago.  The thirteen major water supply reservoirs are as follows: Lake Tappan, Woodcliff Lake, Oradell Reservoir, DeForest Lake, Splitrock Reservoir, Boonton Reservoir, Canistear Reservoir, Oak Ridge Reservoir, Clinton Reservoir, Charlottesburg Reservoir, Echo Lake, Wanaque Reservoir and Spruce Run Reservoir.

Streamflow was below normal at all three index stations. The monthly-mean discharge at South Branch Raritan River near High Bridge was 90.3 ft3/s, 53.1 percent of normal.  The monthly-mean discharge of the Great Egg Harbor River at Folsom was 78.0 ft3/s, 72.9 percent of normal.  The monthly mean discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton was 10580 ft3/s, 75.7 percent of normal. The observed daily mean discharge of the Delaware River at Trenton on February 28 was 8590 ft3/s.

Groundwater levels, as measured in water-table observation wells for the month of February, were below normal at the Readington School and Vocational School II index wells, and were above normal at the Morrell School index station. Levels decreased from last month, and were lower than one year ago.

Water quality parameters collected from the Delaware River at Trenton were within recorded historical monthly extremes. Water temperature ranged from 0.1 to 5.1 degrees Celsius. Dissolved oxygen ranged from 12.8 to 16.4 milligrams per liter. Specific conductance ranged from 171 to 254 microsiemens per centimeter at 25°C.

All of the files listed below are in Portable Document Format (PDF) which can be viewed/printed with the Adobe Acrobat® Reader, freely available for most computer platforms.

• Combined Storage in the 13 Major Water Supply Reservoirs
• Monthly precipitation at three selected sites
• Groundwater levels in selected Water-table observation wells
• Streamflow at selected sites
• Water quality for the Delaware River at Trenton