Implementation plan for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Abstract

The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program is designed to describe the status and trends in the quality of the Nation's ground-and surface-water resources and to provide a sound understanding of the natural and human factors that affect the quality of these resources. To meet its goals, the program will integrate information about water quality at different spatial scales local, study unit, and regional and national and will focus on water-quality conditions that affect large areas or are recurrent on the local scale. As part of the program, study-unit investigations will be conducted in 60 areas throughout the Nation to provide a framework for national and regional water-quality assessments. The study-unit investigations will consist of intensive assessment activity of 4 to 5 years duration followed by 5 years of less intensive activity. Twenty study units will be in an intensive datacollection and analysis phase during each fiscal year (FY), and the first cycle of intensive investigations covering the 60 study units will be completed in FY2002. National and regional assessments of ground-and surface-water quality will be provided from issue-oriented findings of nationally consistent information from the study units. By including study units (60) that cover both a large part of the United States and diverse hydrologic systems that differ in their response to natural and human factors, the NAWQA Program ensures that many critical water-resources and water-quality concerns or issues can be addressed by comparative studies that are national and regional in scale.

Regional species richness, hydrological characteristics and the local species richness of assemblages of North American stream fishes

“…The NAWQA data set, in part, includes fish species data from nearly 1000 sites representing most physiographic regions of the United States (Leahy, Rosenshein & Knopman, 1990;Walsh & Meador, 1998). The NAWQA data set, in part, includes fish species data from nearly 1000 sites representing most physiographic regions of the United States (Leahy, Rosenshein & Knopman, 1990;Walsh & Meador, 1998).…”

20 years of the Clean Wather Act has U.S. Water Quality Improved?

“…These 60 study units cover about 50 percent of the coterminous United States and include at least a part of every state. 49 Biological studies in surface water conducted as part of the NAWQA program include analysis of trace elements and trace organic compounds in fish tissues, measurements of sanitary quality, and analysis of ecosystem structure in relation to habitat and water-quality conditions. The chemistry of suspended sediment and bed sediment samples is also determined as part of the program.…”

Occurrence of Pesticides in Shallow Groundwater of the United States: Initial Results from the National Water-Quality Assessment Program

“…However, the designs of past studies vary widely with respect to factors such as their analytical scope and sensitivity, the types of wells sampled, and the land uses targeted, making consistent comparisons and assessments at regional and national scales difficult (3). The National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) examines groundwater and surface water quality on a national scale using a consistent study design with respect to these and other parameters (6,7).…”