USGS Water Data — Streamflow & Gage Height

US river and stream conditions from USGS Water Services — streamflow (discharge), gage height, water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity — current or historical, at any site. Each reading carries the site name and coordinates. Free, keyless.

Perfect for anglers and fishing apps, flood/hydrology monitoring, paddling planners and research.

What you get

One row per reading:

• Site — site (USGS number), siteName, latitude, longitude
• Parameter — parameterCode, parameterName (decoded, e.g. "Streamflow, ft³/s"), unit
• Reading — value, dateTime, qualifiers

By default the actor returns the latest reading per site+parameter. Ask for a period or an explicit date window to get the full history.

Common parameter codes

00060 streamflow (cfs) · 00065 gage height (ft) · 00010 water temperature (°C) · 00300 dissolved oxygen · 00400 pH · 63680 turbidity. Default is 00060,00065,00010.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
sites	array	—	USGS site numbers, e.g. ["01646500"] (Potomac at DC). Required.
parameters	array	streamflow/gage/temp	USGS parameter codes
service	enum	iv	iv = instantaneous (sub-hourly), dv = daily values
period	string	—	ISO-8601 duration, e.g. P7D, P1M (empty = latest reading only)
startDT / endDT	string	—	Explicit YYYY-MM-DD window (overrides period)

Example input

{"sites":["01646500","09380000"],"parameters":["00060","00065","00010"]}

7-day streamflow history:

{"sites":["01646500"],"parameters":["00060"],"period":"P7D"}

Daily values in a window:

{"sites":["01646500"],"parameters":["00060"],"service":"dv","startDT":"2026-06-01","endDT":"2026-06-30"}

Output (one reading)

Fields below are the real normalizer output:

{
  "site": "01646500",
  "siteName": "POTOMAC RIVER NEAR WASH, DC LITTLE FALLS PUMP STA",
  "latitude": 38.94977778,
  "longitude": -77.12763889,
  "parameterCode": "00060",
  "parameterName": "Streamflow, ft³/s",
  "unit": "ft3/s",
  "value": 4230,
  "dateTime": "2026-07-12T09:30:00.000-04:00",
  "qualifiers": "P"
}

Why this actor

• Latest-by-default — current conditions in one call, with on-demand history.
• Multi-site, multi-parameter — pull a whole basin's gauges and metrics at once.
• Clean & keyless — decoded units, site coordinates, official USGS Water Services, retry/backoff.

Pricing

Pay per result — $1.00 per 1,000 results (one result = one reading). No subscription or platform fees.

Related actors

• NOAA Tides & Currents — coastal tide & current predictions.
• Marine Weather Forecast — waves & swell for sailing/fishing.
• Open-Meteo Weather Scraper — geocoding + weather forecasts.

Notes & limits

• Find site numbers at waterdata.usgs.gov. Not every site reports every parameter.
• Intraday (iv) data is provisional and subject to revision by USGS.
• Public official data; independent tool, not affiliated with the USGS. You are responsible for compliant use of the output.