fix(utils): query() must not mutate the caller's payload

query() stringified each value in place (`payload[key] = to_str(...)`),
so a caller reusing the same dict carried delimiter-joined values into
its next call. Build a fresh `params` dict from the payload instead and
pass that to the request; the caller's dict is left untouched. Adds a
regression test asserting the payload is unchanged after the call.

The branch's original 4xx/5xx-handling commits are dropped: that half is
already superseded on main by the httpx migration (DOI-USGS#289) and the typed
error taxonomy (`_raise_for_status` / `error_for_status`, DOI-USGS#313/DOI-USGS#319), which
raise on every >=400 status. Only the payload-mutation fix remained
unmerged, re-authored here onto main's httpx `query`.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_01Sjb14HkwuCydKSKMsaXsgd

Author: thodson-usgs

dataretrieval/utils.py

@@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ def query(
     url: string
         URL to query
     payload: dict
-        query parameters passed to ``httpx.get``
+        query parameters passed to ``httpx.get``. Not mutated.
     delimiter: string
         delimiter to use with lists
     ssl_check: bool
@@ -442,18 +442,18 @@ def query(
         ``httpx`` exception on ``__cause__``.
     """
 
-    for key, value in payload.items():
-        payload[key] = to_str(value, delimiter)
+    # Build a fresh params dict; never mutate the caller's payload.
+    params = {key: to_str(value, delimiter) for key, value in payload.items()}
     # httpx serializes None params as ``foo=``; USGS rejects with 400.
     # Drop them. (``to_str`` returns None for non-iterable scalars like bools.)
-    payload = {k: v for k, v in payload.items() if v is not None}
+    params = {k: v for k, v in params.items() if v is not None}
 
     user_agent = {"user-agent": f"python-dataretrieval/{dataretrieval.__version__}"}
 
     try:
         response = _get(
             url,
-            params=payload,
+            params=params,
             headers=user_agent,
             verify=ssl_check,
             **HTTPX_DEFAULTS,

tests/utils_test.py

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 """Unit tests for functions in utils.py"""
 
+import copy
 from unittest import mock
 
 import pandas as pd
@@ -33,6 +34,17 @@ def test_header(self, httpx_mock):
         assert response.status_code == 200  # GET was successful
         assert "user-agent" in response.request.headers
 
+    def test_does_not_mutate_caller_payload(self, httpx_mock):
+        """query() builds its own params dict and must not mutate the caller's
+        payload, which it previously stringified in place (so a reused dict
+        carried delimiter-joined values into the next call)."""
+        httpx_mock.add_response(method="GET", json={"value": {}})
+        url = "https://waterservices.usgs.gov/nwis/dv"
+        payload = {"sites": ["01646500", "01646501"], "format": "json"}
+        original = copy.deepcopy(payload)
+        utils.query(url, payload)
+        assert payload == original
+
 
 class Test_error_taxonomy:
     """The unified request-error hierarchy.