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Uses of Data
Biocriteria Links
Biological assessment data play a key role in water quality programs. One of the most meaningful ways to answer basic questions about the quality of the nation's waters is to observe directly the communities of plants and animals that live in them. Because aquatic plants and animals are constantly exposed to the effects of various stressors, these communities reflect not only current conditions, but also stresses and changes in conditions over time and their cumulative impacts. Bioassessment data is invaluable for managing our aquatic resources and ecosystems. Bioassessment data can be used to assess water quality, identify stressors to a waterbody, set protection and restoration goals, and evaluate the effectiveness of management actions.
Uses of Biocriteria and Bioassessment Data:
- Provide Information
to Support Enforcement Investigations and Restorative Assessments
Biological assessments can be used to measure the response of biological communities to incidents such as spills and discharges, determine the extent of damage caused, and determine the rate and degree of waterbody recovery. Biological evidence gathered can be used to assist enforcement agencies with both civil and criminal enforcement actions. - Set Protection and Restoration Goals
Biocriteria, used in the framework of biologically-based aquatic life use designations, help shift the regulatory focus from performance-based standards to impact-based standards. - Assess Water Quality and Identify
Impaired Waters
Biological assessment data provide direct measurements of water quality conditions and can also be used in National Water Quality Inventory reports. This is a distinct advantage over chemistry and toxicity monitoring data because bioassessment data can be used to identify biologically impaired waters, verify impacts of point source discharges, assess the effects of habitat alteration, and capture episodic or non-point source pollution. - Identify Stressors to a Waterbody
Bioassessment data help identify causes and sources of impacts to an aquatic community. Different biological components of an aquatic community will respond differently to certain types of stressors. These responses can be valuable to help identify the stressor. - Set Restoration Priorities through Total
Maximum Daily Loads
Water quality standards, set by states and tribes, identify designated uses for each waterbody. Bioassessment data may be used to indicate whether these waterbodies support the designated uses. If they do not, TMDLs are used to set allowable loads of a single pollutant from all contributing point and nonpoint sources. - Track Restoration Progress
Biological assessments are used to directly measure the response of the biological community to actions taken to restore waterbodies. - Support Water Quality Permits
Bioassessments and biocriteria can support the issuance and reissuance of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits by providing a biological picture of a receiving water response to discharges and control measures. - Protect Your Watershed
Bioassessment and biocriteria shift the focus of water quality programs from strict pollutant source control, e.g. permitting, to broader resource management. Many programs in watershed management plans can use biological data.