USGS Water Data APIs
USGS provides monitoring-location metadata, continuous observations, daily values, statistics, samples, and other products. LakeRiverNow retains station ID, parameter code, raw unit and value, timestamp, qualifier, approval status, source payload, and ingestion run.
USGS Water Data API documentation
National Weather Service
NWS alerts keep their official event, severity, urgency, status, effective period, expiration, affected area, wording, and source URL. The alert feed is refreshed in batches and never inferred from a gauge value.
NOAA CO-OPS
Coastal observations and tide predictions are stored as different product types with datum and valid time intact. A prediction is never displayed as an observation.
Water quality
Discrete samples from USGS or the Water Quality Portal are historical samples unless an appropriate official source explicitly supports current status. Advisories come only from responsible authorities and retain their effective period.
Archived readings
When an official source is unavailable, LakeRiverNow shows the last archived reading with the date it was captured and a clear label saying so. An archived reading is never relabeled as a current condition.