Funding Program: Contaminant Biology

Statement of Problem: A biomonitoring program is being implemented by the State of New Mexico to gather data on biological communities, provide guidance for developing biological criteria for water quality in the Middle Rio Grande (MRG), refine use and comparability of bioassessment methods, develop a database of reference sites for evaluating pollution problems in this reach, and apply data produced to monitoring of water quality and the progress of restoration projects. The bioassessment data will be used for developing a Stream Condition Index (SCI), determining baseline biological conditions for macroinvertebrate and periphyton communities in the MRG, developing and evaluating total maximum daily load (TMDL), and setting biological targets for guiding management and improvement of water quality. The current 2005 MRG survey includes monitoring and assessment of habitat, nutrients, water chemistry, and benthic macroinvertebrates. This project is a fish health assessment which was added to the New Mexico bioassessment. The project was added to provide data to determine the presence of environmental contaminants and their effects on fish, provide data that may warrant further investigations into fish consumption advisories, and determine overall biotic integrity of the MRG.

Objectives: Determine the presence and effects of environmental contaminants and their effects on fish in the Middle Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico.