National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA)

picture of people at a scenic overlook of a river

Links

EPA and its state, tribal, federal and other partners are beginning work on a survey of the nation's rivers and streams. This survey will use a random sampling design to provide regional and national estimates of the condition of rivers and streams. States and tribes will use consistent sampling and analytical procedures to ensure that results can be compared across the country and over time. This survey will combine a first-ever assessment of the nation's rivers with the second national survey of small wadeable streams (see the first such survey, The Wadeable Streams Assessment). The Wadeable Streams Assessment provided the baseline against which survey results on streams will be compared.

The rivers and streams survey is one of a series being implemented to periodically generate statistically-valid and environmentally relevant reports on the condition of the nation's water resources. These collaborative assessments are also intended to improve monitoring across jurisdictional boundaries and to enhance the ability of states and tribes to assess and manage water quality. Visit our Water Quality Reports page for more information on similar surveys in this series.

If you have questions or comments on the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, please feel free to e-mail us at riversurvey-ow@epa.gov.

Fact Sheets

National Rivers and Streams Assessment March 2008 (fact sheet)(PDF) (2 pp, 299K, about PDF)
NRSA Fact Sheet for Communities (2 pp., 255K, about PDF)
NRSA Lower Mississippi River Factsheet (1 pg, 104K, about PDF)

Meetings

April 10-11, 2007: 8th Annual Environmental Assessment and Monitoring (EMAP) Symposium in Washington, DC

A half-day session at this EMAP symposium focused on the next steps in developing the National Rivers and Streams Assessment. This meeting was co-sponsored by EPA and The Council of State Governments (CSG). Key issues and topics discussed included: lessons learned from the WSA; comparability of sampling methods; reference conditions; taxonomic QA across labs; and future steps in planning and designing the survey.

January 10-12, 2007: National Rivers and Streams Assessment Planning Meeting in San Antonio, TX

A meeting co-sponsored by EPA and The Council of State Governments (CSG) was held at the Marriott Riverwalk in San Antonio, TX. The meeting provided an initial opportunity to discuss the broad goals of the survey, and to provide input on the survey design, indicator selection and interpretation, sampling methods and opportunities to leverage the survey to support state, tribal and other monitoring programs and objectives. Speakers included representatives from EPA, U.S. Geological Survey, and several states. The feedback and recommendations provided at the meeting will contribute to the survey design and selection of sample locations.