National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program
This document summarizes some of the key findings in the first decade of studies by the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program of the USGS. It includes examples of how decision makers and planners at all levels--local, state, interstate, and national--use the information to meet their critical data needs; to fill in gaps in data for areas and resources they cannot assess; and to make decisions for the protection of drinking water, the health of aquatic ecosystems, and for resource management.
Full document (.3 mb PDF)
The NAWQA Program is the primary source for long-term, nationwide information on water-quality conditions and ecosystem health. In more than 50 major river basins and aquifers across the nation, USGS scientists collect and assess information on water chemistry, hydrology, land use, stream habitat, and aquatic life. Each NAWQA assessment adheres to a nationally consistent study design and methods of sampling and analysis, so that water-quality conditions in a specific locality or watershed can be compared to those in other geographic regions. The consistent study design and methods also allow contaminants--pesticides, nutrients, industrial and petroleum-based compounds, trace metals--and aquatic ecology to be assessed on a comprehensive national basis. These assessments help us understand how and why water quality varies regionally and nationally.
Information from the NAWQA Program provides an unbiased scientific basis for decision makers, managers, and planners at all levels of government, as well as in nongovernmental organizations, industry, academia, and the public sector. This information is used to address and prioritize the multitude of issues related to managing and protecting our water resources.
U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/docs/xrel/index.html
Page Contact Information: nawqa_whq@usgs.gov
Page Last Modified: Wednesday, 08-Oct-2008 15:39:54 EDT
