Working with the U.S. Geological Survey

Water quality and biological monitoring in parks

he National Park Service is engaged in efforts to strengthen its partnership with the USGS National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. During 1996, each agency spent about $200,000 to pilot park issue-driven, water resource monitoring activities involving nine NAWQA study basins and 11 units of the national park system. Some park issues being addressed include: endocrine system disruption in fish at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada, urban development at Chattahoochee National Recreation Area, Georgia, and river restoration at Yosemite National Park, California. Additional park projects are planned for 1997; however, expansion of the pilot partnership into a sustainable program depends on future funding.

NAWQA is designed to assess, on a watershed basis, the status and trends in the chemical, physical, and biological quality of the nation's streams, rivers, and aquifers in relation to categories of water uses (e.g., agricultural, industrial). The program also is designed to assess, on a systematic basis, the effectiveness of federal and state water quality management programs, and to develop an improved understanding of the natural and human factors that affect water quality conditions.

While a small number of individual assessments of park water quality have occurred on a project-by-project basis, the Park Service has no systematic or sustainable water quality assessment program. In addition, training and staff are inadequate for most parks to conduct and sustain their own water quality technical programs. Furthermore, we lack the organizational infrastructure to support these activities nationwide. The NPS-NAWQA partnership fills this void by providing a sustainable, standardized program of water quality data acquisition in parks that will permit objective, periodic assessments of the status of water quality in parks, and enable us to address our most pressing water quality protection problems. The partnership matches the water quality technical capabilities of the U.S. Geological Survey with the water quality management responsibilities of the National Park Service.

To date, many benefits have resulted from this partnership. For example, St. Croix National Scenic Riverway in Wisconsin is a NAWQA study site that is gaining valuable and credible information very economically. The program has increased the park's visibility in regard to water quality issues and is also flexible, allowing the park to specify sampling sites and parameters needed to address a pressing resource concern. According to Superintendent Anthony Andersen, "we asked for, and received, calcium data to enable us to predict zebra mussel growth conditions. We hope to continue this involvement." Approximately 200 units of the national park system lie in designated NAWQA study basins and stand to benefit from this partnership.

Other articles in the "Working Together" chapter:

The teamwork trend in Hawaii

Big rewards possible with corporate partners

The Chesapeake Bay Initiative

Regional air quality partnerships

Partnership with the USGS

National Natural Landmarks Program

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This material is from Natural Resource Year in Review--1996, published by the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, in May 1997 (publication D-1182) http://www2./YearInReview/yir/yr_rvw96 /chapter4/nawqa.htm
Last Update: 8/20/2002