Donald Bills

Hydrologist

Short Biography

Don joined the USGS in 1978 as a hydrologic technician at the Flagstaff Field Office and is currently a senior hydrologist at the Flagstaff Science Center. His career arc has spanned basic data collection and processing of surface-water, water-quality, sediment, and groundwater data with forays into project work that included groundwater assessments, surface-water and groundwater interactions, and hydrothermal studies. On transitioning from a hydrologic technician to project hydrologist, Don continued to develop his project and hydrologic skills investigating the large regional aquifers in northern Arizona, providing water-resource assessment support to Native American Tribes in northern Arizona, as a team member and lead hydrologist for flow and sediment studies on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and as lead hydrologist for seepage investigations on the Colorado Plateau and in the Verde Valley. Don’s recent projects and interests include; ongoing evaluation of large regional flow systems and springs in Arizona and on the southern Colorado Plateau, hydrogeology and contaminate hydrology related to uranium mining in the Grand Canyon Watershed, and ground-penetrating radar and other geophysical investigations of hydrogeologic frameworks. In 2009, Don was appointed to a national team developing observation well and streamflow-gaging station abandonment guidelines for the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. In 2011, Don was selected as a team member for the Energy and Minerals Mission Area Strategic Science Planning Team.

My Science Topics

My USGS Science Strategy Areas