Activities of the National Water Quality Monitoring Council

1
Activities of the National Water Quality
Monitoring Council

• Gail Mallard, USGS
• NWQMC Meeting
• Phoenix, AZ, December 10, 2002

2

• The U.S. National Water Quality Monitoring
  Council (NWQMC) was established in 1998
• to provide a national forum to coordinate
  consistent and scientifically defensible methods
  and strategies for improving water quality
  monitoring, assessment, and reporting

3
Why do we monitor?

• Describe status and trends
• Describe and rank existing and emerging problems
• Design management and regulatory programs
• Respond to emergencies

From the Final Report of the Intergovernmental
Task Force on Monitoring (1995)
4
A framework for water-quality monitoring is needed

• To provide a systematic approach to the
  monitoring process
• To promote comparability and collaboration
  between and within programs and organizations
• To guide National and regional Council efforts

5
Proposed National Monitoring Framework
6
Applying the framework

• Identify and understand the monitoring
  considerations associated with each of the
  framework elements
• Develop tools and provide information to
  facilitate use of the framework elements
• Demonstrate effectiveness of the tools
• resources (time and money) saved
• Better management decisions

7
National Monitoring Council framework products

• National Monitoring Inventories
• Technical Reports on Monitoring Issues
• National Monitoring Conferences
• Comparability Assessments
• Water Quality Data Elements (WQDEs)
• National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI)
• Environmental Monitoring and Measurement Advisor
  (EMMA)
• Regional Monitoring Councils

8
State and Federal monitoring inventories

• Document the status of monitoring programs
• Identify key enhancements needed
• Quantify the costs of enhanced (sufficient)
  monitoring programs
• Identify useful procedures, formats, or
  approaches that can contribute to greater program
  efficiencies or collaboration
• Use the results to support stronger State and
  Federal monitoring programs and partnerships

9
National Monitoring Conferences

• July 1998, Reno, NV Monitoring Critical
  Foundations to protect our Future
• April 2000, Austin, TX Monitoring for the
  Millenium
• May, 2000, Madison, WI Building a Framework
  for the Future
• May 12 16, 2002, Chatanooga, TN something
  like Applying the Framework
• Promote regional monitoring conferences in the
  off years

10
About the conferences

• Include workshops, presentations, posters, field
  trips, and vendor displays focused on elements of
  the monitoring framework
• Include focused thematic discussion sessions
• Hope to make all proceedings papers and
  presentations available on-line as supporting
  information for the various framework elements
• Conferences result in recommendations to the
  Council

11
Core Water Quality Data Elements (WQDEs)

• Most important information about data (meta data)
  needed to answer the basic questions to
  facilitate data exchange
• Who? (Who conducted the sampling?)
• What? (What was monitored and found?)
• Why? (Why was the monitoring done?)
• When? (When was the monitoring done?)
• Where? (Where was the monitoring done?)
• How? (How was the sampling done?)

12
Benefits of using a common set of WQDEs

• Provide the basis for common data management
  documentation
• Allows data sharing with confidence
• Results are more readily comparable
• Facilitates more effective and economical use of
  monitoring resources at all levels

13
National Environmental Methods Index (NEMI)
chemical
physical

• NEMI is a web-based, searchable compendium
  containing method summaries of field and lab
  protocols

biological
radiochemical
microbiological
14
NEMIs relationship to the framework

• The NEMI database ensures that the consideration
  of field and measurement methods plays an active
  role in the planning and implementation phases of
  a program
• NEMI data fields include detection levels, bias,
  precision, and other QA/QC requirements necessary
  for documenting and reporting on data quality

15
NEMI Information Sources

• Over 600 Method summaries from various sources
• Environmental Protection Agency - 235
• U.S. Geological Survey - 149
• Department of Energy - 32
• American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
  - 75
• AOAC (formerly the Association of Official
  Analytical Chemists) - 8
• Standard Methods - 59
• Private Companies - 43

16
Where to Find NEMI

• www.nemi.gov

17
What is the Environmental Monitoring and
Measurement Advisor (EMMA) ?

• EMMA is a prototype expert system
• Designed to ensure that all critical questions
  are asked during the planning of an environmental
  monitoring program.
• When specific answers are available they are
  given.
• When specific answers are not available then
  advice on how to get them is given.

18
EMMAs Information Planes
19
You may use EMMA now!

• A trial version of EMMA is available by clicking
  on the methods selection advisor on the NEMI
  website at www.nemi.gov

20
Fostering Regional Monitoring Councils

• Lake Michigan Monitoring Coordination Council
  (1999)
• Maryland Water Monitoring Council (1995)
• Virginia Water Monitoring Council (1999)
• Texas Water Monitoring Council (1996)
• Kentucky Watershed Management (1998)
• New England Regional Monitoring Collaborative
  (2000)
• Chesapeake Bay Program (1983)
• Colorado Water Quality Monitoring Council (1999)
• Montana Watershed Coordination Council (2000)
• Oklahoma Water Quality Monitoring Council (1999)
• Wisconsin Ground Water Coordinating Council
  (1998)
• Access the individual websites from
  water.usgs.gov/wicp/acwi/monitoring/regional_counc
  ils.html

21
Why form a monitoring Council?

• Promote better use of available monitoring
  resources through coordination of programs
• To provide better information to respond to
  legislation
• Improve reporting to citizens
• Promote awareness of need for monitoring

22
National and Regional Council connections

• Working together as a virtual Council toward
  common goals Networks, Methods, Data,
  Interpretation, Reporting and Outreach
• Everyone is welcome at Council meetings and as
  members of Council Goal Groups and Board Work
  Groups
• Important not to duplicate efforts with and to
  share results between Councils