National Water Quality Monitoring Network Design

1
National Water Quality Monitoring Network Design

• Briefing For The
• Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality
• May 12, 2005

2
Origins of the Proposal

• An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century
• Final Report of the U.S. Commission on Ocean
  Policy

The US Ocean Action Plan The Administrations
Response
Both called for the creation of a National Water
Quality Monitoring Network
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Monitoring Problems Cited

• Combined (existing) efforts do not constitute a
  comprehensive, coordinated water quality
  monitoring network
• coastal waters are under monitored
• Data
• Exchange is complex and unwieldy
• Hoarded by agencies researchers
• Few of the 200 sites in the National Atmospheric
  Deposition Program are in coastal areas

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National Water Quality Monitoring Network

• Three Recommendations
• Develop network that coordinates and expands
• existing efforts
• The network should include coverage in both the
  coastal and upland areas that affect them, and be
  linked to the Integrated Ocean Observing System
• Network must have clear goals, specify core
  variables, and an appropriate sampling framework,
  and be periodically reviewed and updated.

5

• Council is a 35-member committee under the
  Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI)
• ACWI is Chartered under the Federal Advisory
  Committee Act
• ACWI members accepted task from CEQ and NSTC for
  Council to Design a National Water Quality
  Monitoring Network (NMN)
• Council has already developed many products to
  address these problems (see Council brochure)

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National Water Quality Monitoring Network
Councils Organization of the Effort
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2
7
40
28
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Approach to the Design

• Design the network using criteria derived from
• Specified goals and objectives
• Management questions
• Compare design with existing monitoring efforts
• Then
• Retain
• Add or Extend
• Enhance
• Define as external to the Network

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Goals of the National Water Quality Monitoring
Network

• Integrate, coordinate, and as necessary enhance
  water quality monitoring efforts needed to make
  informed management decisions for sustainable use
  of aquatic resources.
• Communicate the availability of quality assured
  data, and disseminate information products
  relevant to national, regional and local needs.

10
Objectives of the National Water Quality
Monitoring Network

• 1. Define status and trends of key water quality
  parameters and conditions on a nationwide basis.
• 2. Provide data relevant to determining whether
  goals, standards, and resource management
  objectives are being met, thus contributing to
  sustainable and beneficial use of coastal and
  inland water resources.
• 3. Provide data to identify and rank existing and
  emerging problems to help target more intensive
  monitoring, preventive actions, or remediation.
• 4. Provide data to support and define coastal
  oceanographic and hydrologic research, including
  influences of freshwater inflows.
• 5. Provide quality-assured data for use in the
  preparation of interpretive reports and
  educational materials.

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Management Questions

• What is the condition of the Nations surface,
  ground, estuarine, and coastal waters?
• Where, how, and why are water-quality conditions
  changing over time?
• Where are the problems related to water quality?
• What is causing the problems?
• Are programs to prevent or remediate problems
  working effectively?
• Are water-quality goals and standards being met?
• What research activities are needed to support
  these important resources?

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The Six Environments

• Major river systems and major tributaries of
  those primary drainages
• Estuaries,
• Outlets of major estuaries and bays
• Near-shore coastal zone
• Regional aquifers
• Great Lakes

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Stressors Affecting Resources

• Oxygen depletion
• Nutrient enrichment
• Toxic contamination
• Sedimentation
• Harmful algal blooms
• Habitat degradation
• Invasions by exotic species
• Pathogens (indicator bacteria)

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Regional IOOS Associations
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National Water Quality Monitoring Network

• Challenge
• Common information goals
• Compatible design approaches
• Sampling timing
• Metadata standards
• Parameter specifications
• Field data collection handling
• Analytic procedures
• Data storage, and data access practices

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Major Rivers of the Conterminous U.S.
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Cumulative Drainage and Streamflow in Major
Conterminous U.S. Rivers
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Dissolved Oxygen in the Chesapeake Bay

• Illustrates the gap between what monitoring
  exists and what monitoring is useful to
  management

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Initial Network Design for Nontidal Monitoring
703 Stream Gages
gt1700 Water Quality

• 313 Active Stream Gages 389 Active Water-Quality

176 WQ Associated with Stream Gages
118 Sites Meet Frequency and/or Parameter
Criteria for trends
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Progress To Date

• Focusing on the issue of oxygen depletion
• Assembling parameter lists for marine estuarine
  waters
• Contacting other case study areas

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Progress To Date

• We are addressing
• Common definitions of environmental compartments
• Common information goals
• The use of different design approaches
• Common parameter specifications
• Sample timing
• We are starting to address
• Metadata standards
• Field data Collection handling
• Analytic procedures
• Data storage, and data access practices

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Network Milestones

• Council Meeting July 26-28, 2005
• Interim report to ACWI Sept 14, 2005
• Council Meeting Nov 1-3, 2005
• Final report Mid-Jan 2006
• Natl. Monitoring Conf. May 7-11, 2006

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• Charles Spooner
• US Environmental Protection Agency
• Office of Water 4503T
• 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
• Washington, DC 20460
• Spooner.charles_at_eap.gov
• 202-566-1174

• Dr. Gail Mallard
• US Geological Survey
• 2 Schumann Road
• Westerly, RI 02819
• gmallard_at_usgs.gov
• 401-322-0902

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