According to NPS-75 parks should have physical, chemical, and/or biological
data for key park water bodies based on size, uniqueness, representativeness,
and possible threats. Primary characteristics/parameters for which data are
needed for key park water bodies include: alkalinity, pH, conductivity,
dissolved oxygen, rapid bioassessment baseline (EPA/state protocols, involving
fish and macroinvertebrates), temperature, and flow. Secondary data
characteristics/parameters, where important on a case-by-case basis, include:
toxic elements, clarity/turbidity, nitrate/nitrogen, phosphate/phosphorus,
chlorophyll, sulfates, and bacteria. To determine whether primary and secondary
physical, chemical, and biological data have been collected in parks, the
Servicewide Inventory and Monitoring Program and the Water Resources Division
have partnered to prepare Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis
('Horizon') Reports for parks. These reports inventory and describe available
water quality data that exist in the Environmental Protection Agency's STORET
(http://www.epa.gov/storet/)
national water quality database and the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water
Information System (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis).
Reports have been completed for 235 national park units. Adobe Acrobat versions
of the reports can be downloaded at http://www.nature.nps.gov/water/horizon.htm.
In advance of producing these reports, most parks were contacted to obtain water
quality data collected by the parks, contractors, and/or cooperators and these
data, as well as data found in historical published
and unpublished documents were uploaded to STORET so that they would be
summarized in the Horizon Report. As a result, the NPS has established a
significant water quality database/archive in STORET containing more than 2.5
million results from more than 17 thousand sample locations in or near national
park units. Forty additional reports remain to be issued once a contractor
completes the updated report-generation software procedures necessitated by
modernization of the source databases. For additional information on the
Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Report effort or the NPS
STORET database, contact Dean Tucker (mailto:Dean_Tucker@NPS.GOV,
(970)-225-3516). When a park's Horizon Report has revealed the park to be
lacking data for the primary and/or secondary ("Level I") water quality
characteristics/parameters for key water bodies, that park and/or Vital Signs
Network have been eligible to submit a proposal and receive funding for
conducting a Level I Inventory to alleviate the data gap. For additional
information on Level I Water Quality Inventories, contact Gary Rosenlieb (mailto:Gary_Rosenlieb@NPS.GOV,
(970)-225-3518). |
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