Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental ResultS

Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental ResultS (WATERS) is an integrated information system for the nation's surface waters. The EPA Office of Water manages numerous programs in support of the Agency's water quality efforts. Many of these programs collect and store water quality related data in databases. These databases are managed by the individual Water Programs and this separation often inhibits the integrated application of the data they contain. Under WATERS, the Water Program databases are connected to a larger framework. This framework is a digital network of surface water features, known as the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) . By linking to the NHD, one Water Program database can reach another, and information can be shared across programs.