Recovery Potential Screening

Tools for Comparing Impaired Waters Restorability

Monitoring programs under the Clean Water Act have identified tens of thousands of US water bodies that do not meet Water Quality Standards and are in need of restoration. This website provides technical assistance for restoration programs to help them consider where to invest their efforts for greater likelihood of success, based on the traits of their own geographic area's environment and communities.  There are three main website components. Step-by-step instructions in recovery potential screening provide watershed managers with a methodology for comparing restorability differences among their waters.  The steps in the methodology link to several online tools and resources that are used in recovery potential screening.  A library of recovery potential indicators offers technical information on specific recovery-related factors (ecological, stressor, and social), how they influence restorability, and how to measure them. More ...

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