Reference · built on requestCommons signalEarth, seismic & volcanic

USGS Water Data APIs

Continuous and daily streamflow, gage height, and groundwater observations from USGS OGC API collections.

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About

The USGS Water Resources Mission Area serves observations from the nation's streams, lakes, and wells through a set of OGC API collections at api.waterdata.usgs.gov. Continuous data come from automated sensors, often at a fixed 15-minute interval; daily values summarize each day; field and channel measurements record site visits; monitoring-locations and time-series-metadata describe the sites and series. Responses are GeoJSON with parameter codes, statistic codes, approval status, and qualifiers.

Through Fibric you follow the gages and wells that matter to your sites and let operators propose flood holds, reroutes, or prep checklists for your approval.

This is a reference listing. It documents what Fibric would read from USGS Water Data APIs and what it could propose, based on the publisher's published interfaces. Fibric builds it under a managed deployment when you request it; selecting it here installs nothing.

Inputs

  • continuous and latest-continuous: sensor observations by parameter_code, often at a fixed 15-minute interval
  • daily and latest-daily: one value per day computed from the continuous record, with statistic_id
  • monitoring-locations: name, identifier, and responsible agency for each site
  • time-series-metadata: operational thresholds, units of measurement, and methods per series
  • field-measurements, channel-measurements, and peaks: site-visit measurements and annual peak streamflow
  • time-series-revisions: changes or deletions made to approved data after publication

Proposed actions

Read-only. This feed informs operators; it changes nothing.

Proposed actions are target capabilities. Every action runs propose-first and needs a validated deployment and the appropriate permissions.

What you can build

  • Hold deliveries when a river gage rises

    Weather Hold follows gage height on the crossings your routes use and proposes holding outbound orders to affected addresses when the latest-continuous value exceeds a threshold you set.

    With Weather Hold

  • Reroute around flooded crossings

    Route Deviation reads latest-continuous streamflow at monitoring locations along planned routes and proposes alternate sequences before drivers depart.

    With Route Deviation

  • Prepare low-lying properties

    Storm Prep compares daily values with the peaks collection for nearby sites and proposes a pre-event checklist for properties near a rising gage.

    With Storm Prep

Requirements

  • monitoring_location_id or a bbox for the gages and wells you follow
  • USGS parameter codes (for example 00065 for gage height) and statistic codes for the series you want
  • A free API key if you poll often; separate keys for development and production are encouraged
Authentication
Optional free API key from api.waterdata.usgs.gov/signup, sent as the api_key query parameter or the X-Api-Key header; a key raises your rate limit.

Limits

  • Rate limits apply with and without a key; over-limit requests return 429 Too Many Requests
  • Large result sets are paginated; follow the next link and use datetime intervals to keep requests small
  • Continuous observations arrive at each sensor's interval and may be revised before approval
  • The OGC API is versioned at v0 and documents a migration path from the legacy Water Services

Access and pricing

Reference listing. Public feed access is separate from Fibric integration. If you request this feed, your quote covers the build, usage, and support.

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Questions and answers

Do I need an API key for the USGS water data OGC APIs?
Not strictly. Keys are free and raise the number of requests allowed per hour. Pass one as the api_key query parameter or the X-Api-Key header. Responses carry X-RateLimit-Limit and X-RateLimit-Remaining headers, and over-limit calls return 429.
How fresh is continuous data?
USGS states continuous data are collected via automated sensors at high frequency, often at a fixed 15-minute interval. The latest-continuous collection returns the most recent observation for each time series.
What format do responses use?
GeoJSON by default, with f=json, f=html, or f=jsonld selectable. Each feature carries properties such as monitoring_location_id, parameter_code, statistic_id, unit_of_measure, approvals_status, qualifiers, and last_modified, plus a point geometry.
Ask about USGS Water Data APIs

Ask about the capabilities and requirements in this listing.

For project-specific requirements, contact Fibric.

This Commons signal listing is developed, published, and supported by Fibric. It reads public data published by USGS Water Resources Mission Area (api.waterdata.usgs.gov). Upstream agencies and projects are the property of their respective owners, who are not affiliated with Fibric and do not sponsor or endorse this listing. Trademark policy