Biological and Data Management Aspects of the National Water Quality Assessment Program in the San Joaquin-Tulare Basins, California

Larry R. Brown

In:
California-Nevada Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, 27th Annual Conference, Redding, California, February 6-8, 1992 Program, p. 15-16.

Abstract:
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is presently implementing the National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA). The San Joaquin-Tulare basins study unit is 1 of 20 study units selected for the initial phase of the NAWQA program. One of the goals of the NAWQA program is to use biological monitoring of fishes, aquatic invertebrates, and algae to establish the status and trends in surface-water quality throughout the Nation. The biological data will be supplemented by data on concentrations of contaminants in water, sediments, and within selected organisms. Data from all study units will be collected according to uniform, national protocols. The National Synthesis teams will compile the data for national-level assessment of selected topics. As a result, the NAWQA program will generate data on the distribution and relative abundance of organisms and contaminants that will be of interest to national, regional, and local water-resource managers. The data will be entered into a USGS database called NWIS II (National Water Information System), which is presently being developed. The NWIS II system is being designed with the capability to output data in formats compatible with various software ranging from geographic information systems to simple spreadsheets. These capabilities will make the data accessible to all interested parties.