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OCR for page 73
3
implementation, Coordination, and
National Synthesis
CURRENT STATUS OF NATIONAL WATER QUALITY
ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING PROGRAMS
At the request of the committee, W. G. Wilber of the USGS
prepared a summary of national water quality assessment ac-
tivities of the federal agencies (Appendix B. #18~. A description
of the present and proposed programs is presented here and in
Table 3.1. Except for NAWQA, the current USGS national
monitoring and assessment activities are the National Stream
Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN), the Hydrologic Bench-
mark Program, and the National Trends Network. The total
annual budget for these three programs is $6.S million. NAWQA,
if fully funded, will have an annual budget of $60 million. The
primary focus of the present and proposed USGS assessments is
rivers and ground water. NAWQA will be more comprehensive
than any other national assessment in the media sampled with
planned sampling of the water column, sediments, and fish and
wildlife tissues.
At present, EPA has the largest water quality assessment
program through its $27 million per year National Water Quality
Inventory as required by Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act.
This assessment covers rivers, lakes, and ground water. The
National Pesticides Survey and the Bioaccumulation Study are
one-time activities. If EPA's proposed Environmental Monitoring
and Assessment Program (EMAP) is funded, then EPA will have
an additional $60 million per year national assessment capability.
EMAP will evaluate a wide variety of receiving waters, forests,
wetlands, and agroecosystems. The NOAA National Status and
Trends Program is the major assessment of water quality condi-
tions in near coastal waters. This $5.0 million per year program
includes analysis of fish and mollusc tissues.
73
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OCR for page 80
80
NAUSEA Pilot Program
The National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) of
the Fish and Wildlife Service evaluates the status and trends of
contaminant levels in fish and wildlife. Its budget is $0.3 million
per year.
Summaries of these national water quality assessment programs
are presented below. Most of this information was received from
W. Wilber of the USGS (Appendix B. #18~.
National Stream Quality Accounting Network
The U.S. Geological Survey established the National Stream
Quality Accounting Network (NASQAN) in 1973. The current
goals of NASQAN are to:
1. identify national water quality trends and, to the extent
possible, relate these trends to upstream land and water use; and
2. account for constituent transport between major river basins
and into estuaries and the Great Lakes.
The NASQAN network is made up of 411 active and 26 in-
active data collection sites. The majority of the NASQAN sites are
located on major rivers at the downstream end of the hydrologic
accounting units. More than 50 measurements are made at fixed
sampling intervals at each site. These measurements include field
parameters such as discharge' water temperature, and pH; selected
nutrients; major ions; trace elements; and fecal indicator bacteria.
Samples are collected bimonthly at 58 percent of the sites and
quarterly at 42 percent of the sites. These data are stored in the
USGS WATSTORE data base with biennial transfers to the EPA's
STORET data base. The 1989 funding for NASQAN was $3.6
million.
Hydrologic Benchmark Network
The U.S. Geological Survey's Hydrologic Benchmark Network
was established in 1964 to do the following:
1. document natural changes in hydrologic characteristics,
2. provide a better understanding of the hydrologic structure
of natural basins, and
3. provide a comparative basis for studying the effects of man
on the hydrologic environment.
OCR for page 81
Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
81
The network consists of 58 stations located in watersheds across the
country that have been minimally affected by humans. Most of
the network stations are sampled for water quality, and more than
50 physical and chemical measurements are made at fixed sampling
intervals. Field measurements include discharge, water
temperature, pH, and alkalinity. Water samples are analyzed for
concentrations of selected nutrients, major ions, trace elements, and
fecal indicator bacteria. Samples are collected quarterly at 73
percent of the stations, bimonthly at 23 percent of the stations, and
monthly at 4 percent of the stations. These data are stored in
WATSTORE with biennial transfers to STORET. This program
was funded at $800,000 in fiscal year 1989.
National Trends Network
The U.S. Geological Survey, as lead agency for the Task Group
on Atmospheric Deposition and Air Quality Monitoring of the
National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program, manages the
National Trends Network (NTN). A variety of federal, state, and
local agencies operate the 150 rural monitoring stations. The goals
of this network are to:
1. provide regional-scale information on the spatial variation
in the chemistry of precipitation (rain and snow) in the United
States, and
2. detect long-term trends in precipitation chemistry.
Wet deposition samples are collected weekly. Funding for fiscal
year 1989 was $3.0 million.
National Water-Quality Inventory
In accordance with Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act of
1972 and its 1986 amendments, the EPA must submit a water
quality assessment report to Congress every two years. This report
consists of a set of state reports prepared by the states and an
overview prepared by EPA. The goals for the 1990 cycle (U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1989) are as follows:
1. Increase the coverage of the nation's waters. In 1986, only
one-fifth of the nation's river miles and one-third of its lake
shoreline miles were assessed by the states. In addition to in-
creasing this coverage, additional emphasis will be given to
assessing water quality in estuaries, coastal areas, and wetlands.
OCR for page 82
82
NAWQA Pilot Program
2. Improve data quality and utility to support the shift in
emphasis from technology-based to water-quality-based approaches.
A computerized data system called the Waterbody System (WBS)
has been developed for this purpose and is already in use in
several states.
3. Continue Clean Water Act reporting as follows:
Under Sections 304~1) and 303(d), identify all waters threatened
or impaired with toxic pollution control problems.
Under Section 314, identify the trophic states of lakes that are
impaired and lakes with acidity problems.
Under Section 319, identify waters that cannot reasonably be
expected to attain or maintain water quality standards owing to
nonpoint pollution.
Primary sources of information for the state reports include long-
term monitoring records, short-term intensive surveys, and profes-
sional judgments of state agency personnel. Funding for this
program was approximately $27 million in fiscal year 1989.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is developing con-
cepts for an Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program
(EMAP) to assess the overall risks to natural ecological systems
from multiple pollutants and stresses. The proposed goals of
EMAP are to:
1. characterize ecological resources at risk,
2. quantify baseline conditions and trends and their status, and
3. identify probable causes by examining corresponding pat-
terns and trends in pollutant exposure and other stressors.
Ecosystems to be assessed by EMAP include the atmosphere, forests,
agroecosystems, lakes and streams, wetlands, near-coastal marine
systems, and estuaries. A variety of indicators and environmental
measurements would be taken during 5- to 7-year index periods to
define current conditions. Annual sampling would be done at
selected sites to define trends. If fully funded, EMAP would have
an annual budget of $60 million.
OCR for page 83
Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
National Pesticide Survey
83
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began the National
Pesticide Survey of ground water used for drinking water purposes
in 1988. The goals of this one-time survey are to:
1. provide estimates of pesticide contamination in community
and domestic drinking water wells in the United States due to
selected pesticides, and
2. examine relationships of pesticide contamination to patterns
of pesticide use and ground water vulnerability.
About 750 private domestic wells and 600 community wells are
being sampled over a two-year period. Field work is scheduled for
completion in early 1990 with a report expected by December 1990.
Total estimated funding for this two-year survey is $11 million.
Bioaccumulation Study
The National Bioaccumulation Study of EPA began in l9X6 as
an outgrowth of the National Dioxin Study. The objectives of this
one-time screening study are to determine the extent to which
water pollutants are bioaccumulating in fish and to identify
correlations with sources of the contamination. Potential effects
on human health from exposure through consumption of con-
taminated fish are also being evaluated. The total cost for this
one-time survey was about $1 million.
National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program
The National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) of
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began in 1967 as the National
Pesticide Monitoring Program, a cooperative effort with the USGS,
Food and Drug Administration, and Federal Water Pollution
Control Administration. The primary goals of this program are to:
1. describe contaminant levels in freshwater fish and wildlife,
and
2. define long-term trends in contaminant levels in fish and
wildlife.
The 1989 funding for this program was approximately $300,000.
OCR for page 86
86
TABLE 3.2 continued
NAWQA Pilot Program
Data Base
Description
Reference
U.S. Census of Agriculture Population in the United States U.S. Census
summarized for about 400,000 Bureau, 1983.
block groups and enumeration
districts; identified by latitude
and longitude.
U.S. Coal Production Surface and underground coal Mining
production by county. Information
Services, 1983.
U.S. Environmental Estimated discharge from about Philip Taylor,
Protection Agency 54,000 industnal and municipal U.S. En~riron-
Industnal Facility facilities having EPA permits; mental Pro-
Discharge File identified by permit number in section Agency,
the National Pollution Discharge commun., 1988.
Elimination (NPDES) and by nver-
reach number.
U.S. Environmental Estimates of now and concen- U.S. Environ-
Protection Agency "rations of biochemical-oxygen mental Pro-
Needs Surrey demand in the effluent die- tection Agency,
charged from about 30,000 1982b.
publicly owned sewage treat-
ment plants identified by
NPDES permit number and
river-reach number.
U.S. Environmental Numeric listing of about 67,000 Dewald and
Protection Agency stream reaches arranged sys- others, 1987.
River-Reach File tematically to provide hydro-
logic linkages among major
U.S. rivers.
OCR for page 87
Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
TABLE S.2 continued
Data Base
Description
87
Reference
U.S. Environmental A computerized data base con- U.S. Environ-
Protection Agency taining geographic and other mental Pro-
STOrage and descriptive data for water- tection Agency
Retrieval System quality data-collection sites, 1982a.
(STORET) data related to the physical
charactermtice and chemical
constituents of water, fish
tissue, and sediment; infonna-
tion on municipal waste sources
and disposal systems; data on
pollution-caused fish lcille;
and daily streamilow data.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Formerly referred to as the May and
Service National National Pesticide Monitoring McKinney
Contamination Bio- Program, the program was es- 1981; Lowe
monitoring Program tablished to monitor temporal and others,
and geographic trends in 1985.
Organochlorine chemical and
elemental contaminants in
the nation's freshwater fish.
Source: Hirsch et al., 1988.
NATIONAL ASSESSMENTS AS A COMPONENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PROGRAMS
Table 3.3 summarizes the estimated expenditures for environ-
mental monitoring by federal and nonfederal organizations.
The cost of environmental monitoring by federal agencies was
estimated to be about $500 million in 1989. This estimate includes
all types of monitoring (e.g., compliance, status, and trends) and
activities related to monitoring such as program design, data
collection and processing, data management, analysis, interpreta-
tion, and synthesis. A like amount of money is estimated to be
spent by nonfederal agencies for a total estimated annual expendi-
ture of about $1 billion per year.
The National Water Quality Assessment program is estimated to
have an annual budget of approximately $60 million, or 6 percent
of the total annual expenditure for monitoring activities. Many
of the monitoring data being collected outside of NAWQA are
useful for regional and national assessments. Thus it is vital that a
significant component of the NAWQA activity be committed to
OCR for page 88
88
NAWQA Pilot Program
TABLE 3.3 Estimated Costs of Environmental Monitoring by Federal Agencies
Millions of
% for dollars per
Agency Budget Monitoring year
Agriculture
Soil Conservation Servicer 387 10 38.7
Forest Service 23.2
Administration & R - ounce
cone. 34.8 25
Forest environment research 31 25
Range management 27 25
Commerce 63.9
NOAA- Coastal % estuarine
averments 6.9 100
National Manne Fisheries
Service 49 100
Other (e.~., weather, coast
watch) 8 100
Defense 3 68
Corps of Engineers 18 100
Other4 50 100
Energy5 25
En~rironmental Protection Agency6 237.4
Ambient 92.9 100
Methods 27.5 100
Planning/management 19 100
Quality a~urance/quality control 14.6 100
Source 74.7 100
Auto. data processing 8.7 100
Interior (FY 1989) 44.4
National Water Quality Asses.
Program
National Stream Quality Accounting
Net.
7
100
3.6 100
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Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
TABLE 3.3 Estimated Costs of Environmental Monitoring by Federal Agencies
89
Agency
Budget
Millions of
% for dollars per
Monitoring year
Hydrologic Benchmark Network
National Trends Network
Other environmental monitoring
activities in USGS7
Total
0.8
3
100
100
100
30
500.6
.
NOTE:
1Estimate ~ based on FY 89 budget for conservation operations. Expenditures include
Surreys of sail and inventory and monitoring of natural resource trends.
No direct estimate available.
3A significant part of this funding is for the dredging program.
4No direct estimate available. Known large monitoring activities to support hazardous waste
Mediation activities.
No direct estimate available. Known large monitoring activities at national labs for
hazardous matenale and ecological activities.
This estimate is based upon data for 1987. The total is the sum of monitonug expenditures
in the programs: Water (23.0%), Air (29.0%), Solid Waste (23.5%), Research and De~relop-
~ent (22.6%), and Pesticides (1.9%~.
Estunate needs to be checked.
Source: Holland, F. (Verear, Inc., Columbia, Maryland) personal conununication 1990 to K.
Thornton and R. Kutz, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
utilizing this large amount of data available from secondary
sources. Also, NAWQA should attempt to use information from
ongoing studies by other groups with a view toward using these
results as part of the national assessments.
INTERAGENCY COOPERATION
Description
Information on interagency cooperation on water quality data
monitoring activities was provided by Bill Wilber of the USGS at
the request of the committee (W. G. Wilber private communication
to I. P. Heaney, February 6, 1990~.
The Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data and the
Advisory Committee on Water Data for Public Use were formed in
1967 to coordinate the data acquisition activities of federal agen-
cies. The responsibility for these committees was delegated by
Office of Management and Budget Circular A-67 to the Depart-
OCR for page 90
90
NAWQA Pilot Program
ment of the Interior, which placed the responsibility with the
USGS. The Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data has
representatives from 34 federal agencies, and the Advisory Com-
mittee on Water Data for Public Use consists of 27 members repre-
senting state and local agencies, technical societies, universities,
and private enterprises.
With regard to NAWQA coordination at the national level, a
National Coordinating Work Group was established in the pilot
program to advise the USGS on national aspects of the NAWQA
program. The work group, which has met every six months since
November 1986, functions under the auspices of the long-standing
Interagency Advisory Committee on Water Data and the Advisory
Committee on Water Data for Public Use. The work group is
chaired by the chief hydrologist and currently consists of nine
federal members, seven nonfederal members, and representatives
from each of the pilot project liaison committees. Organizations
represented include the American Water Resources Association, the
Association of American State Geologists, the Association of State
and Interstate Water Pollution Control Administrators, the Chemi-
cal Manufacturers Association, the Interstate Conference on Water
Policy, the National Association of Conservation Districts, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the
EPA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service,
NOAA, the Soil Conservation Service, and the Council on Environ-
mental Quality.
Two new subcommittees focusing on water quality will be
formed within the existing subcommittee structure. These com-
mittees will focus on the overall problem of national water quality
assessments, including, but not limited to, the NAWQA program.
In addition to the above subcommittees, EPA and the USGS
have an Interagency Committee for Program Coordination. This
Memorandum of Understanding, signed November 26, 1985, in-
cludes explicit mention of the NAWQA program. Other inter-
agency committees exist with NOAA, Office of Surface Mining,
Bureau of Reclamation, Forest Service, and Soil Conservation
Service. The USGS and the Fish and Wildlife Service have a draft
Memorandum of Agreement (see Appendix G) that outlines the
. :
terms and conditions under which these two agencies will operate
with a fully implemented NAWQA program.
Current national assessment activities related to water quality
are being conducted by EPA, USGS, NOAA, and the Fish and
Wildlife Service. The total expenditures for these programs, in-
cluding the NAWQA pilot program, are about $46 million per year.
Full-scale NAWQA and EMAP programs will greatly expand these
national assessment activities with each of these programs esti-
OCR for page 91
Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
91
mated to cost $60 million per year. The total annual investment in
environmental monitoring in the United States is about $1 billion
per year. The federal agencies have long-standing agreements to
cooperate on water quality monitoring activities. They appear to
be aware of the activities and programs of their sister agencies.
Critique
.
Current and proposed national water quality monitoring and
assessment activities by the federal water agencies constitute a
significant and worthwhile component of water resources manage-
ment activities. However, in spite of the fact that interagency
cooperative agreements have existed at least since 1967, no master
plan has been available to ensure that existing and proposed
monitoring activities will provide the basis for a comprehensive
national water quality assessment program, even with NAWQA and
EMAP. Such a plan is essential in order to evaluate whether
federal funds are being wisely allocated among the suites of
problems, e.g., bacteriological contamination, pesticides, and
nutrients; receiving environments, e.g., rivers, lakes and impound-
ments, ground water, and wetlands; constituents (physical, chemi-
cal, and/or biological); and beneficial uses, e.g., water supply,
recreation, and fish and wildlife protection.
The local liaison committees and the National Coordinating
Work Group are the current means of outside input into NAWQA.
Each of these groups serves an important function of technology
transfer and information sharing, but they do not have any ap-
parent authority to decide the direction of NAWQA. They can
influence NAWQA by participating in the selection of the national
issues to be addressed by the issue-based teams. Since no issue
teams have yet been formed, the committee has been unable to
evaluate this process. A new, independent, and unbiased scientific
advisory committee should be considered for outside review of
NAWQA's progress.
Summary
Cooperation among those agencies performing water quality
assessments is essential to providing a thorough, detailed assessment
of the nation's water. NAWQA alone cannot assess all of the
nation's water quality. For example, lakes and estuaries are not a
part of NAWQA. Other agencies have water quality data on these
OCR for page 92
92
NAWQA Pilot Program
water bodies that should be integrated with the USGS data to
provide the national water quality assessment that decisionmakers
need. In order to combine and synthesize the water quality data
from those agencies, an interagency council is recommended to
serve this important function. Membership on this council should
comprise representatives of USGS, EPA, NOAA, the Fish and
Wildlife Service, the Forest Service, USDA, and the Council on
Environmental Quality. During its first two years of activity, this
council might consider accomplishing the following tasks:
1. Prepare a detailed inventory of current water quality moni-
toring and assessment activities of the federal agencies. This
inventory should be a greatly expanded and improved version of
Table 3.1 of this report. This inventory should include accurate
estimates on the current expenditures of the agencies for water
quality related activities.
2. Prepare an action plan of how overall agency programs will
perform national water quality assessments by:
a. issue, e.g., wastewater treatment, pesticides, nutrients;
b. receiving water bodies, i.e., rivers, lakes and impoundments,
estuaries, and wetlands;
c. beneficial uses, e.g., water supply, recreation, and fish and
wildlife protection; and
d. type of water quality constituent, i.e., physical, chemical, or
biological.
This master plan should also indicate which agencies will perform
which tasks.
To ensure the success of NAWQA to provide a truly national
assessment of water quality, the following internal and external
committees are envisioned.
USA
NAWQA
~q EN
Internal (USGS)
Interag~q council
on national water
quality It*
~ Committed
Nate Coord. Wow Grp
Scientific Advisory.
Ca~ttee*
Stud~r-Unit Team (60)
I~Based Team
National Synthesis Tearn
* Indian a new committee proposed by the WSTB
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Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
NATIONAL SYNTHESIS
Description
93
NAWQA is intended to characterize water quality and detect
trends, and therefore incorporates both fixed and synoptic sam-
pling. But more importantly, it is designed to improve our under-
standing of physical, chemical, and biological processes and causal
relationships. This is to be accomplished by focusing on the study-
unit scale, by including intensive sampling at relatively small
scales, and by using both deterministic and statistical models. The
advantage of this approach is its emphasis on process under-
standing. However, because it is not based on an overarching
statistical design, it will not lead to rigorous probabilistic general-
izations at the national scale. Instead, national conclusions will be
based on aggregating "findings from comparative studies conducted
in a wide range of hydrologic settings nationwide" (Hirsch et al.,
1988).
Each study-unit team in carrying out its portion of NAWQA
will implement a nationally consistent set of analyses and protocols
such that data can be aggregated and compared. It is the com-
mittee's understanding that two approaches will then be used
within the USGS to synthesize these data into information that is
useful at the regional and/or national scale.
The first approach to national synthesis will be "issue-based"
teams to focus on critical regional and national water quality
issues. Issues under consideration at the time of this report include
(1) factors influencing the distribution and fate of pesticides in
surface and ground waters; (2) nutrient and suspended sediment
impacts on streams, lakes, and impoundments; and (3) volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) in ground water and urban surface
waters (W. Wilber, personal communication, April 11, 1990~.
During the first NAWQA cycle, four such issues will be addressed,
each by separate teams of four to five individuals. Each team will
operate for an average of six years, during which a series of
reports will be published. For example, preliminary plans call for
three reports from the issue-based team investigating factors
influencing the distribution and fate of pesticides in surface and
ground waters: (1) an initial report summarizing current knowl-
edge; (2) a summary of reconnaissance level efforts to improve
understanding based on the pilot studies, the initial 20 study units,
and other USGS programs; and (3) a report on detailed case studies
in some study units focusing on factors related to the management
of pesticides (W. Wilber, personal communication, April ll, 1990~.
The initiation of each team will be staggered at yearly intervals,
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94
NAWQA Pilot Program
starting in 1993. This will make it possible for at least some of the
topics to be based on early findings of the study-unit investiga-
tions. Selection of topics will also be based on results of other
water quality assessment programs and on the advice of the
National Coordinating Work Group and other technical advisory
committees.
The second approach to national synthesis will use a "national
synthesis" team of five individuals to compile information and key
findings from the study units, the issue-based teams, and other
USGS programs to prepare a general overview of national water
quality conditions and trends. This team will function con-
tinuously over the ten-year cycle and will prepare two or three
reports.
In addition to the above mentioned internal issue and national
synthesis teams, the USGS plans to obtain input on national and
regional synthesis from outside sources such as other federal
agencies, professional societies, and academia. The current
methods of soliciting outside advice and guidance are through the
local liaison committees, the National Coordinating Work Group,
and other informal contacts.
Critique
One of the strengths of NAWQA is the study-unit concept,
which focuses activity at the scale dictated by hydrological pro-
cesses. The challenge of NAWQA is to use the information and
understanding obtained at the study-unit scale to make generaliza-
tions at the regional scale, and then to aggregate the regional
findings to inform decisionmaking at the national scale. The issue-
based and national synthesis teams have the potential to perform
this critical integrating role. Because these teams were not in place
during the pilot program, the committee was unable to evaluate
their actual performance. However, the committee does offer some
comments on the prerequisites for successful synthesis.
The success of the national synthesis will depend on the following:
~ The choice of critical tonics. Because only a few national
issues will be explored during each NAWQA cycle, it is critical
that these issues be chosen wisely and with broad input. Once a
topic has been chosen, several years will be needed for the series of
synthesis reports to be completed. Hence, the choice of issues must
anticipate the key questions facing aec~s~onmaKers.
~ The capabilities of the personnel. It is essential that each
issue-based and national synthesis team be led by an experienced
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Implementation, Coordination, and National Synthesis
individual who is familiar with both the scientific and manage-
ment issues of the particular problem, since the goal of each team
is to synthesize scientific information and understanding into
products that are useful to decisionmakers.
· The extent of communication with the study units. It is
obvious that the synthesis teams must be well aware of the ac-
tivities of the study units. Close communication is essential.
~ The ability to influence the activities of the Study units. If
effective regional and national synthesis is to be achieved, the
synthesis teams must have the ability to influence the design of the
individual study-unit activities. Otherwise, the study units will
likely be dominated by local interests and concerns. Based on
observations of the pilot studies, there will be strong resistance to
outside influence on study-unit activities. The most effective way
to overcome this resistance is to have strong group leaders who can
develop a good rapport with the individual study unit teams.
· The extent of interaction and coordination with or~aniza-
tions outside USGS. As with all of NAWQA, the USGS must not
rely solely on its own data and expertise in achieving national
synthesis. It is imperative that the issue-based and national synthe-
sis teams make a significant effort to identify relevant data and
information from all available sources in preparing reports on
regional and national issues.
95
Summary
The committee recommends that the USGS pursue its proposed
use of issue-based and national synthesis teams to achieve a
national-level synthesis of the information and knowledge
developed at the study-unit scale. These teams should be in regular
communication with the study-unit teams, should be given the
authority to influence the activities of the study-unit teams, should
be led by the most capable and experienced personnel, and should
not restrict their vision only to USGS data and information. A
strong review process should be put in place to assure wise choice
of regional and national issues with broad input.
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Representative terms from entire chapter:
national synthesis
