US EPA Update

Advisory Committee on Water Information

Michael Shapiro, Ph.D.

Deputy Assistant Administrator

U.S. EPA Office of Water

Presentation Overview

• National Stream Survey

• Overview of the Environmental Exchange Network

• Office of Water Goals for Water Quality Exchange (WQX)

• 2006 WQX Activities

Collaborate to Produce Statistically-Valid Assessments

• Focus on key questions: – To what extent do waters support healthy

ecosystems, recreation, fish consumption?– What are the most significant water quality problems?– Is water quality improving?– Are we spending pollution control dollars wisely?

• Promote use of statistically valid assessments at state scale

• Produce scientifically-valid reports on the condition of all waters of the U.S.

Proposed Schedule for Surveys

Red-Planning

Yellow-Progress

Green-Success

Annual Output Measure for Monitoring - EPA, with states and other partners will assess and

identify trends for 100% of the Nation’s waters by 2018 using statistically-valid surveys to

evaluate the extent that waters support the fishable and swimmable goals of the Clean Water

Act. Annual milestones to meet this goal are:

Coastal waters and estuaries

Streams and small rivers

Lakes, ponds, reservoirs

Large and great rivers

Wetlands

2004

2006

2009

2011

2013

2007

2011

2014

2016

2018

100%

19%

43%

19%

8%

AmountAssessed

in 2000

Target for Target for 100% Trends Assessed of 100%

Wadeable Streams Assessment

The States Assess the Nation’s Streams

Generate report on the conditionof streams of theU.S. by 3/06

Build State capacity for monitoring and assessment

Enhance data comparability and integration of State programs

Objectives of Assessment

• Assess the ecological condition of streams nationally and regionally– Determine the proportion of streams that fall

in the three classes of condition ( e.g. good, fair, poor or least-disturbed, moderately-disturbed, and most-disturbed)

• Assess the extent streams affected by key stressors – Describe associations between stressors and

ecological condition

WSA Basic Framework• Generate statistically-valid report on the condition of

wadeable streams – Use probability-based survey design– Complement efforts in Western States

• Focus on consistent measurement of core indicators– Macroinvertebrates– Basic chemistry, including nutrients– Quantitative habitat assessment

• Encourage state cooperators to enhance projects– State scale survey design– Additional parameters (fish, periphyton)

• Produce report in March, 2006– Completed sampling in 2004– National meeting to refine data analysis and presentation approach– Completed sample analysis in December 2005

Purpose of Lakes Survey• Report on the condition of the Nation’s lakes

– Statistically-valid design so dataset represents the condition of all lakes in regions that share similar ecological characteristics

– Provide regional and national estimates of the condition of lakes, with option for state-scale estimates

– Use consistent sampling and analysis procedures to ensure the results can be compared across the country

• Help build state and tribal capacity for monitoring and assessment

• Promote collaboration across jurisdictional boundaries in the assessment of water quality

Schedule for Lakes Survey• Winter 2006 – Will finalize approach to selecting target lakes for

the Lakes Survey; will serve as the basis to allocate section 106 funds

• April 26-28, 2006 State Lakes Meeting in Chicago will focus on the indicators, field protocols and implementation issues

• Summer/Fall 2006 – Develop sampling protocols, lab protocols and QA/QC plans

• Spring 2007 – Training for field crews • Summer 2007 - Sampling conducted • 2007/2008 – Sample processing and data analysis• 2009 – Report on the Condition of the Nation’s Lakes completed

Water Quality Exchange (WQX)and the National Environmental Information Exchange Network

Vision Statement

• “The Exchange Network is a partnership to support better environmental decisions through improved access to, and exchange of, improved environmental information.”

• The Network vision has three goals: • better data o better exchange of informationo better access to information

What is the Exchange Network?

An Internet and standards-based method for exchanging environmental information between partners

Key Components•Data Standards•Nodes•XML Schema/Registry•Trading Partner Agreements•Grant Program

CA

OR

WA

ID

MT

WY

CO

NM

TX

AK

HI

OK

KS

SD

ND

MN

IA

WI

IN OH

KY

TN

MS AL GA

FL

NC

WV

PA

NY

DE

CT

NH

RI

IL

MO

AR

LA

NVUT

AZ

OR

NM

MS

WV

PANJ

MA

NH

MD

State Node Implementation ProgressSeptember 2005

DCVA

MI

NM SC

NE

VT ME

In Development

OperationalFL

Not Yet Started

St. Regis Mohawk Tribe

Goals of Water Quality Exchange

• Reduce the burden on data providers• Leverage the exchange network via standards

based solutions• Provide web-based data entry applications for

small organizations with limited technical staff (tribes and volunteers)

• Develop web services to increase data sharing and re-use

• Provide data analysis tools to track environmental trends and support future strategic plan and PART measures

DataSubmitter

XML Submission

Business Rules CheckingReceive Error ResponsesValid Value Checking

CDX OWWQX ODS

Approved XML Submission

Data Context Error Reportor

Data Load Confirmation & Summary

OWWQXData Parse,

Validate, andLoad Software

OWWQXPilot Phase

Web Services

For pilot users to retrieve data

WQX Pilot

Pilot exchange partners – Wind River Reservation, Oregon, Texas, and Michigan

2006 WQX Activities• Complete pilot evaluation, and determine lessons

learned • Outreach to additional data partners to further refine

the schema• Establish operational data flow for physical and

chemical data by 1/2007• Continue working with USGS to map WQX and NWIS

into common XML schema and develop web services to facilitate data sharing

• Begin developing Web-based data entry tools