Every Drop of Water Tells a Story.

What's Your Water Telling You?

Start Water Science Projects Faster with NV5

Access NV5’s proven water science and geospatial expertise quickly through the USGS Geospatial Products and Services Contract (GPSC). When timelines are tight and decisions matter, we help Water Science Centers move from data collection to actionable insight—without procurement delays.

From river systems and aquatic habitats to flood-prone and coastal environments, NV5 delivers the trusted data and analysis needed to support planning, management, and resilience.

Water Science Centers - Santiam River, Oregon

Why GPSC Makes It Easy to Get Started

NV5 is an approved contractor under GPSC, enabling Water Science Centers to engage quickly and compliantly. With this contract vehicle, you can:

    • Begin projects faster without lengthy procurement cycles
    • Access experienced water science and geospatial specialists immediately
    • Scale work across regions, programs, and timelines
    • Stay within a pre-approved, compliant contracting framework

No delays. Just progress.

What We Help You Achieve

NV5 supports water science missions by delivering reliable data and insights that inform real‑world decisions across four core outcome areas:

Hydrology & Flood Risk

  • Floodplain, watershed, and river system analysis
  • Improved flood modeling, forecasting, and mitigation planning

Habitat & Environmental Monitoring

  • Aquatic and riparian habitat mapping
  • Species habitat analysis, including salmonid environments
  • Long-term environmental condition tracking

Infrastructure & Resource Planning

  • Reservoir, corridor, and asset mapping
  • Support for power generation, water supply, and resource management

Rapid Response & Emergency Support

  • Time-sensitive mapping for flood, storm, and disaster events
  • Rapid acquisition of lidar, imagery, and multi-sensor data

Comprehensive Geospatial Services Available Through GPSC

NV5 provides a full suite of water science and geospatial services under GPSC, including:
  • Airborne lidar acquisition and processing
  • Elevation-derived hydrography and terrain products
  • Orthoimagery and photogrammetric mapping
  • Survey, control, and cadastral services
  • GIS integration, analytics, and data validation
  • Hyperspectral and multi-temporal data analysis
  • Emergency response mapping and rapid data acquisition

Have a specialized requirement? NV5 works with you to scope and deliver solutions tailored to your mission.

  • Airborne lidar acquisition & processing
  • High-resolution topographic product generation
  • Elevation-derived hydrography & hydro-related elevation product generation
  • Conflation & ingestion of hydrography related data into the National Hydrography Database (NHD) and/or
    Watershed Boundary Dataset (WBD)
  • Airborne geophysical acquisition and processing
  • Orthoimagery acquisition and processing
  • Photogrammetric mapping
  • Survey and control services including cadastral surveying
  • Thematic mapping
  • Land characterization
  • Product generation & validation
  • GIS services
  • Multi-temporal data
  • Hyperspectral data
  • Acquisition of ancillary data
  • Emergency rapid response data acquisition
  • Photo and image manipulation and interpretation
  • Map digitizing
  • Metadata creation
  • Standard USGS raster and vector products
  • Image scanning and processing
  • Second generation type orthophoto
  • Digital multispectral and hyperspectral imaging, including all other forms of digital sensor system technologies and emerging geospatial products and services

Built for Complex Water Environments

Water systems are dynamic, interconnected, and often difficult to measure. NV5 specializes in complex aquatic and environmental settings where traditional mapping approaches fall short.

Our teams bring deep expertise in topobathymetric lidar, echo‑sounding, and integrated surface and subsurface data collection, allowing us to capture accurate information across rivers, reservoirs, coastlines, and flood‑prone regions. By combining advanced technology with hands‑on environmental experience, we help water science teams translate challenging conditions into actionable insight.

We don’t just deliver data—we deliver answers you can act on.

Proven in the Field: USGS Oregon Water Science Center

Through GPSC, NV5 supported the USGS Oregon Water Science Center (ORWSC) with topobathymetric lidar acquisition along the Santiam River.

The project enabled:

      • Enhanced flood modeling and forecasting
      • Improved salmon habitat analysis
      • Data-driven support for reservoir and power generation planning

All services were delivered efficiently through the GPSC framework.

Read the full project for ORWSC

NV5 was contracted by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to collect topobathymetric Light Detection and Ranging (lidar) data in the summer of 2023 for the Santiam River site in Oregon. The Santiam River area of interest covers approximately 28 square miles along the Santiam River, as far west as Breitenbush in the north and west of Green Peter Reservoir in the south. The area of interest ranges as far east as the confluence of the Santiam with the Willamette River near Buena Vista, Oregon.

 

Traditional near infrared (NIR) lidar was fully integrated with green wavelength return data (bathymetric) lidar in order to provide a seamless topobathymetric lidar dataset. Data were collected to support the USGS Oregon Water Science Center (ORWSC), United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), and USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) missions. This includes the goal of supporting salmon habitat monitoring by modeling spawning and rearing habitat, flood modeling, and reservoir and power generation planning and forecasting.

 

Santiam River Project was funded by the Oregon Water Science Center and the Portland District of the USACE. ORWSC was able to implement the project utilizing NV5's USGS GPSC4 contract vehicle.

 

The South Santiam River in Oregon
The South Santiam River in Oregon
Location map of the Santiam River site in Oregon
Location map of the Santiam River site in Oregon
The NV5 data acquisition team shows the water clarity conditions in one section of the Santiam River site.
The NV5 data acquisition team shows the water clarity conditions in one section of the Santiam River site.
Ground control surveys, including monumentation and ground survey points (GSPs), were conducted to support the airborne acquisition.
Ground control surveys, including monumentation and ground survey points (GSPs), were conducted to support the airborne acquisition.
In addition to ground survey points, land cover class checkpoints were collected throughout the study area to evaluate vertical accuracy.
In addition to ground survey points, land cover class checkpoints were collected throughout the study area to evaluate vertical accuracy.
This 2 meter lidar cross section shows a view of the Santiam River landscape, colored by point classification.
This 2 meter lidar cross section shows a view of the Santiam River landscape, colored by point classification.
This 2 meter lidar cross section shows a view of vegetation, water, and bare ground in the Santiam River AOI, colored by point laser echo. 
This 2 meter lidar cross section shows a view of vegetation, water, and bare ground in the Santiam River AOI, colored by point laser echo. 
A comparison of intensity images from green and NIR first returns in the Santiam River area.
A comparison of intensity images from green and NIR first returns in the Santiam River area.
First return density map for the Santiam River site (100m x 100m cells)
First return density map for the Santiam River site (100m x 100m cells).
Ground and bathymetric bottom density map for the Santiam River site (100m x 100m cells)
Ground and bathymetric bottom density map for the Santiam River site (100m x 100m cells).

Your Mission Is Our Mission

NV5 partners with water science and resource management leaders to tackle critical challenges in sustainability, resiliency, and regulatory compliance. Because this work isn’t just about data—it’s about enabling better decisions, when they matter most.