USGS Water & Streamflow Scraper

hipersoft/usgs-water-scraper

Pull US stream-gauge data from USGS monitoring sites: streamflow (discharge), gage height, water temperature and more, as daily or instantaneous values. Query by site, state or bounding box and export as JSON, CSV or Excel for water management, research and alerts.

Run this scraper →See the API call

Total users

Monthly users

Total runs

Per observation scraped

$0.0002

Last rebuilt

Oct 26, 2026

Overview

Pull US stream-gauge data straight from USGS monitoring sites with the USGS Water & Streamflow Scraper. Get streamflow (discharge), gage height, water temperature and more — as daily or instantaneous values — for any site, state or map area, and export each reading as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Built for water and reservoir management, flood and drought monitoring, hydrological research, and recreation apps (paddling, fishing, rafting), it turns the national water-monitoring network into a clean, tabular dataset.

What it does

🌊 Streamflow & stage — discharge (ft³/s), gage height (ft), water temperature and other parameters.
🗺️ Query any way — by site number, by US state, or by a bounding-box map area.
🕒 Daily or instantaneous — one value per day, or sub-hourly readings for a recent period.
🧱 Tidy rows — one row per observation with site, parameter, value, unit and timestamp.
📍 Site coordinates — latitude/longitude for every monitoring site.
📤 Export anywhere — JSON, CSV or Excel, or straight into an alert, model or dashboard.

Example output

{
  "site": "01646500",
  "siteName": "POTOMAC RIVER NEAR WASH, DC LITTLE FALLS PUMP STA",
  "latitude": 38.9497,
  "longitude": -77.1278,
  "parameterCode": "00060",
  "parameter": "Streamflow, ft³/s",
  "value": 5750,
  "unit": "ft³/s",
  "dateTime": "2024-06-01T00:00:00.000"
}

How to use it

Enter site numbers, or a state code, or a bounding box.
Choose the parameters (discharge, gage height…) and daily or instantaneous values.
Set a date range or period, run, and download as JSON, CSV or Excel.

Input fields

Field	Description
Site numbers	USGS site numbers to fetch (e.g. 01646500).
State code	Two-letter US state to fetch all matching sites (md, ca…).
Bounding box	west,south,east,north degrees for a map area.
Parameter codes	00060 discharge, 00065 gage height, 00010 temperature, and more.
Data service	Daily values or instantaneous (sub-hourly) values.
Start / End date	Explicit date range as YYYY-MM-DD.
Period	Relative window (P7D, P1M…) when no date range is set.
Max observations	Cap on total rows (0 = no limit).

Output fields

site, siteName, latitude, longitude, parameterCode, parameter, parameterDescription, value, unit, dateTime, qualifiers.

Popular use cases

Flood & drought monitoring — track discharge and stage against thresholds.
Water & reservoir management — feed live flow into operations dashboards.
Research & modeling — build long streamflow time series for any basin.
Recreation apps — surface current flow for paddling, fishing and rafting.
Alerts — notify when a gauge rises or falls past a set level.

FAQ

Do I need an account or key? No. Enter your sites or area and run.

What parameters can I get? Discharge (00060), gage height (00065), water temperature (00010) and many other USGS parameter codes.

Daily or instantaneous? Daily gives one value per day over long ranges; instantaneous gives sub-hourly readings for a recent period.

How do I find site numbers? Query by state or bounding box to discover sites, then reuse their site numbers for targeted pulls.

Can I export to Excel or Google Sheets? Yes — results download as JSON, CSV or Excel and integrate with alerts, models and dashboards.

Structured USGS streamflow and water data — discharge, gage height and more by site, state or area — clean and export-ready for water management, research and alerts.

Input

Field	Type	Description
`sites` Site numbers	array	USGS site numbers to fetch, one per line (e.g. 01646500 for the Potomac near Washington, DC). Provide this OR a State / Bounding box below.
`stateCd` State code	string	Two-letter US state code to fetch all matching sites (e.g. md, ca, tx). Used only when no site numbers are given.
`bBox` Bounding box	string	Bounding box as west,south,east,north decimal degrees (e.g. -83.0,36.5,-81.0,38.5). Used only when no site numbers or state are given. Keep it small — the source limits very large boxes.
`parameterCd` Parameter codes	string	USGS parameter codes, comma-separated. Common: 00060 = discharge (streamflow, ft³/s), 00065 = gage height (ft), 00010 = water temperature (°C), 00300 = dissolved oxygen, 00095 = specific conductance. Default: `"00060,00065"`
`service` Data service	string · dv, iv	Daily values (one value per day) or Instantaneous values (sub-hourly readings, recent period only). Default: `"dv"`
`startDate` Start date (optional)	string	First day, as YYYY-MM-DD. Set together with End date for an explicit range; otherwise the Period below is used.
`endDate` End date (optional)	string	Last day, as YYYY-MM-DD.
`period` Period	string	Relative period ending now when no date range is set, ISO-8601 duration (e.g. P7D = last 7 days, P1M = last month, P1D = last day). Default: `"P7D"`
`maxItems` Max observations	integer	Maximum observation rows to collect (0 = no limit). Default: `0`

API

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/hipersoft~usgs-water-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
  "sites": [
    "01646500"
  ]
}'

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("hipersoft/usgs-water-scraper").call(run_input={
    "sites": [
        "01646500"
    ]
})

for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN' });
const run = await client.actor('hipersoft/usgs-water-scraper').call({
  "sites": [
    "01646500"
  ]
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Pricing

Event	Price	Paid plans from
Observation scraped One water observation (site/parameter/timestamp)	$0.0002	$0.0001

You pay only for what the run returns. Set a maximum cost per run and it stops cleanly at that limit.

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