Preparing for the Third Decade of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program (2012) / Chapter Skim
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2 NAWQA: Cycle 1 and Cycle 2
2 NAWQA: Cycle 1 and Cycle 2
Pages 25-52
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From page 25... ...
Indeed, the USGS resources to assess national water quality were the National Stream Quality Accounting Network1 (NASQAN) and the Hydrologic Benchmark Network,2 which, while nationwide, were sparse and were conducting routine monitoring rather than data analysis.
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From page 26... ...
For example, the original study unit concept consisted of 123 separate surface water and groundwater units: 69 surface water-dominated and BOX 2-1 The Original Vision for the NAWQA Program The USGS vision for NAWQA included selecting study units, or hydrologically meaningful pieces of geography (Winter, 2001) , in which to monitor water quality.
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From page 27... ...
committee and USGS that the separate approach had the potential for missing important surface water-groundwater linkages that could have profound effects on the water quality of both systems. Consequently, the decision was made to consolidate groundwater and surface water study units, although most of the study units were either groundwater or surface water dominated.
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From page 28... ...
generate a national synthesis of those data focusing on analysis of the highest-priority issues that cuts across the geography and answers the question, "How is the nation's water quality changing? " The program demonstrated considerable progress toward a national waterquality assessment in Cycle 1.
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From page 29... ...
At the same time, each study unit was developing liaison committees with local stakeholders, which became critical to guide how each study unit analysis was carried out and how the results were used to enhance water management. Within each study unit, an integrated group of scientists addressed the three primary objectives by (1)
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From page 30... ...
. Also, the study units effectively bridged the environmental system because of a tailored sampling strategy in each study unit (groundwater and/or surface water; the water column and/or bed sediment; pesticides and/or nutrients)
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From page 31... ...
Environmental Framework NAWQA activities were developed with an "environmental framework" or a broader context through which the data were related to the bigger, envi ronmental picture. This framework, composed of "common natural and human-related factors, such as geology and land use," was used "to compare and contrast findings on water quality within and among study units in relation to causative factors and, ultimately, to develop inferences about water quality in areas that have not been sampled" (Gilliom et al., 1995)
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From page 32... ...
: sample lakes and reservoirs that are important sources of water supply; enhance sediment monitoring, enhance interpretation, and make sediment a topic of a national synthesis team; and add pharmaceuticals, high production volume chemicals, and waterborne pathogens and microbial indicator organisms to the list of contaminants monitored in Cycle 2. The program also continued to assess the current water quality of the nation through standardized data collection, in concert with the goal of assessing long-term water-quality trends.
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From page 33... ...
The program transitioned away from the study unit focus and moved to a larger-scale regional design for status and trends assessment because of limited resources. The regional design retained a core of status and trends monitoring still conducted within the study units, but deemphasized the role of more detailed study unit investigations and their individual teams and liaison committees.
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Geographic areas YELL HDSN USNK were selected to represent a wide CHEY DELR range of important hydrologic GRSL NPLT EIWA ALMN LSUS LINJ SACR CNBR LERI environments and priority eco- NVBR UIRB logical resources; critical contami- UCOL SPLT LIRB WHMI SANJ KANS nant sources, including agricultural, NVBR UARK KNTY KANA PODL urban, and natural sources; and MARK OZRK ALBE a high percentage of population CACI TENN served by municipal water supply SOCA RIOG MISE SANT CAZB and irrigated agriculture. The 59 SHPL MOBL TRIN original study units covered about ACFB 65 percent of water used for drink- GAFL ing and irrigation; the reduced set ACAD of 42 study units still accounts SCTX SOFL for more than 60 percent of those OAHU Study Units- water uses.
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. Later, mid-Cycle 2, the shift from study units to MRBs and PAs was considered an opportune time to begin developing planned regional-scale water-quality models.
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Nineteen aquifers selected for regional assessment FIGURE 2-6 Nineteen Principal Aquifers selected for regional assessment during the latter portion of Cycle 2 (2006-2012)
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From page 37... ...
Surface Water Status and Trends Network In Cycle 1 505 surface water sites were sampled in 3-year, intensive, water-quality sampling periods per the original design. Of the original 505 stream sites monitored in Cycle 1, 145 were selected for annual trends monitoring at the start of Cycle 2 as specified in the Cycle 2 NIT's report, Study Unit Design Guidelines for Cycle II of the National Water Quality Assessment Program6 (Gilliom et al., 2000)
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b A groundwater network is a cluster of sampling wells. FIGURE 2-7 NAWQA Surface Water Status and Trends Network redesigns in the continental United States from Cycle 1 (A)
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Groundwater Status and Trends Network In Cycle 1 NAWQA had approximately 272 groundwater networks or clusters of sampling wells, for a total of 6,307 wells sampled throughout the study units for groundwater status and trends (Figure 2-8, top)
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# ! NAWQA Study Unit Cycle I Ground-Water StudyEach marker represents a group of approximately 30 wells # Major Aquifer Study -- Drinking Water !
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From page 41... ...
At the time of this report, six trends reports exist for the major river basins on nutrients, sediment, and pesticides (Box 2-3) .8 NAWQA also has published a variety of information assessing the PAs.9 For example, the High Plains Aquifer Professional Paper summarizes the water quality in this aquifer and was NAWQA's first systematic regional assessment of groundwater (McMahon et al., 2007)
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From page 42... ...
. The topical studies were nested within the study units of Cycle 1, using knowledge gained in Cycle 1: · Topical Study 1: Agrochemical Sources, Transport, and Fate10 · Topical Study 2: Effects of Nutrient Enrichment in Stream Ecosystems11 · Topical Study 3: Mercury Cycling in Stream Ecosystems12 10 See http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2004/3098/.
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From page 43... ...
. to the User In Cycle 2, NAWQA moved from monitoring to monitoring and modeling water quality of the nation's groundwater, surface water, and ecology at all scales (i.e., using deterministic models at smaller scales and statistical regression at large scales)
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. These studies are the foundational material for a USGS Circular summarizing findings on aquatic communities across the United States prepared by the Ecological National Synthesis Project, planned for 2012.
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"Diminished" condition indicates that observed average magnitudes were less than expected reference magnitudes. SOURCE: Reprinted, with permission, from Carlisle et al., 2011.
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From page 46... ...
The preliminary findings from this effort show the promise of future regional SPARROW modeling of water-quality conditions in the United States. The October 2011 issue of the Journal of American Water Resources Association provides a featured collection of articles on the regional SPARROW effort.19 NAWQA is exploring uncertainty in all the modeling efforts, i.e., associating uncertainty with all the estimates the program produces.
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From page 47... ...
These models establish linkages between pesticides measured at NAWQA surface water sampling sites to variety of factors (pesticide use, soil characteristics, hydrology, and
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From page 48... ...
.21 (For additional information see Box 4-1.) Also, USGS and EPA are working together to provide interested parties with a web service to assist in integrating large water-quality databases.22 Users can go into the USGS website and retrieve data from the National Water Information System, which includes water-quality data from NAWQA, in a common format and go to the state EPA data (STORET)
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From page 49... ...
. The last supports the Office of Water Quality, the National Water Quality Laboratory including the Methods Research and Development Program, which develops new analytical methods, and the Branch of Quality Systems.
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SOURCE: FY appropriationsFigure 2-13 from NAWQA leadership, personal communication, August 2011. Bitmapped Quality of info 56 40 4 Clarity 48 46 5 Level of technical 49 45 5 detail Usefulness 37 51 13 Overall quality 47 49 4 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Percentages Very satisfied Satisfied Dissatisfied FIGURE 2-14 A Customer Satisfaction Survey, conducted in 2010, indicates user satisfaction with NAWQA information.
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A Customer Satisfaction Survey, conducted in 2010,23 indicates that the majority of NAWQA users are either satisfied or very satisfied with NAWQA information (Figure 2-14)
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