Title: Summary of Biological Assessment Programs and Biocriteria Development for States, Tribes, Territories, and Interstate Commissions: Streams and Wadeable Rivers 2001 Program Update (EPA-822-R-02-048)
1Summary of Biological Assessment Programs and
Biocriteria Development for States, Tribes,
Territories, and Interstate Commissions
Streams and Wadeable Rivers2001 Program
Update(EPA-822-R-02-048)
- Beth Jackson
- USEPA Office of Environmental Information
- December 9, 2002
2Highlights
- Overview of EPAs Bioassessment Biocriteria
Program - Project Background Goals
- Survey Development
- Information Collection Assessment
- Findings
3EPAs Biological Assessment and Criteria Program
Strategy
- Program Mission
- Accelerate adoption of biocriteria into water
quality standards by all States/Tribes - Mission FY 2002- 2005
- To better protect aquatic life through the
integration of biologically-based assessments and
standards into State and Tribal water quality
programs
4The Biological Assessment and Criteria Program
- Support successful adoption of biocriteria for
streams and rivers (in WQS) by all States and
Authorized Tribes - Start to implement biocriteria for Lakes and
Reservoirs - Introduce biocriteria for Estuaries and Coastal
Waters - Make progress on biocriteria methods for other
water bodies
5Background
- Launched effort to update and expand the 1996
summary document (EPA 230-R-96-007) in June 2001 - Supported by EPAs Biocriteria Team (OW, ORD,
OEI, Regional Biocriteria Coordinators) - Expanded to include detailed information on
- use of bioassessments within water quality
programs and - use for Aquatic Life Use decision-making
- Expanded coverage to include federally recognized
Tribes, more US territories Interstate Basin
Commissions
6Project Goals
- Determine bioassessment capacity for
- determining ALU support,
- water quality decision-making (305(b) reporting
and 303(d) listings), - developing TMDLs
- Determine progress made in biocriteria
development - Illustrate changes and improvements in
bioassessment capabilities over the past 5 years
7Project Goals, continued
- Provide an important measure of State/Tribal
program advancement and EPAs technical transfer
efforts - Allow EPA Biocriteria Team to better focus its
WQS and Criteria Strategy - Assess technical support needs of States/Tribes
8Survey Development
- Developed 57 question survey
- Received input from OWOW, OST, OEI, EPA Regions,
Midwest Biodiversity Institute, contractor - Addressed 5 critical areas
- 1. Programmatic Elements
- 2. Aquatic Life Use for Decision-Making
- 3. Field and Lab Methods
- 4. Data Analysis and Interpretation Procedures
- 5. Information Management
9Information Collection Assessment
- Distributed over 75 surveys to States Tribes,
Territories and Interstate Basin Commissions - Conducted follow-up interviews with responding
entities - Followed extensive QA/QC to ensure accuracy and
quality of responses
10Findings
- 65 entities responded
- 57 entities have bioassessment programs featured
in report - 40 entities use bioassessments to determine ALU
- 475,000 river and streams miles assessed using
bioassessments
11Use of Bioassessments
In-place UD None
Water Resource Mgmt 57 2 6
Interpret ALU attainment 40 6 13
Narrative Biocriteria in WQS 30 11 19
Narrative Biocriteria/Translator 23 9 28
Numeric Biocriteria in WQS 4 9 47
12Assemblages Used Benthic Macroinvertebrates
56 in place 1 under development
13Assemblages Used Fish
41 in place 16 none
14Assemblages Used Periphyton
21 in place 4 under development 32 none
15Use of Multiple Assemblages
45 more than 1 assemblage
16Reference Condition
In-place UD None
Ecoregional 40 3 11
Site-specific 19 1 36
State-wide or basin-specific 7 1 46
17Analysis Assessment
In-place UD None
Biological Metrics 54 1 1
Multivariate 22 2 32
Multimetric index 41 7 8
Habitat Assessment 57 0 0
18Progress Made Since 1995
- 30 entities have Narrative Biocriteria (in WQS)
increased by 1 - 4 entities have Numeric Biocriteria increased
by 2 - Assemblages
- 12 more entities using Fish
- 12 more entities using Macroinvertebrates
- 17 more using Algae
- 19 more using more than 1 assemblage