8225

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8225
• Author: Leahy, P. P., J. S. Rosenshein and D. S. Knopman.
• Title: Implementation Plan For the National Water-Quality Assessment Program.
• USFW Year: 1990.
• USFW - Doc Type: 90-174,
• Copyright Material: NO

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE NATIONAL WATER-QUALITY
ASSESSMENT PROGRAM
By P.P. Leahy, J.S. Rosenshein, and D.S. Knopman
ABSTRACT
The National Water-QualityAssessment (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-qualityassessments. 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 data-
collection 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.
a National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA)
Program in 1985 to:
(1) provide a nationally consistent description of
current water-quality conditions for a large part of the
Nation's water resources;
(2) define long-term trends (or lack of trends) in
water quality; and
(3) identify, describe, and explain, to the extent
possible, the major natural and human factors that
affect observed water-quality conditions and trends.
In 1986, a pilot NAWQA program was begun, the
purpose of which was to develop, test, and refine
methods useful for a full-scale national water-quality
assessment program (Hirsch and others, 1988). In
1987, the USGS requested the National Academy of
Science's (NAS) Water Science and Technology
Board to review the NAWQA pilot program. In
September 1989, the NAS review committee
submitted an interim report, which stated that (1) the
implementation of a national water-quality
assessment is in the best interest of the Nation, and
(2) the USGS is well qualified to establish and imple-
ment a NAWQA Program. In late 1989, the
Administration determined that the USGS should
proceed with implementation of the NAWQA
Program in FY 1991 and requested that Congress
appropriate $18 million to begin the full program,
which in 4 years is planned to increase to about
$60 million annually. Background information on the
objectives, design, and plan of implementation for the
program is provided in this report.
INTRODUCTION
The Nation's water resources are composed of
many interrelated ground- and surface-water systems.
The response of each of these systems to natural and
human factors manifests itself in a corresponding set
of hydrologic, chemical, and biological characteristics
that reflect the water-quality effects of these factors.
Many national water-quality concerns arise from the
recognition of recurring local and regional problems
related to managing and protecting water quality. In
order to address these complex concerns and related
issues, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) proposed
PLAN FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAM
The NAWQA Program consists of two major
elements-study-unit investigations and regional and
national syntheses of study-unit investigation results.
Study-unit investigations, the basic building blocks of
the NAWQA Program, are designed to address study
unit and local water-quality issues and to provide the
framework upon which regional and national water-
quality assessments can be made. Findings from these
comparative studies will provide an improved under-
standing of key national, regional, and local
water-quality concerns.