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About Water Monitoring and Assessment
About Water Quality | Water Pollutants | Pollution Sources
Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act requires each state to conduct water quality surveys to determine a water body's overall health, including whether or not basic uses are being met. States, tribes, and other jurisdictions define appropriate uses for a water body and incorporate these uses into water quality standards that are approved by EPA. Water body uses include aquatic life protection, fish and shellfish production, drinking water supply, swimming, boating, fishing, and agricultural irrigation, among others.
The Clean Water Act protects and preserves water quality in the United States by protecting the uses designated for specific waterbodies. The results of water quality assessments are not raw data but rather statements of the degree to which each water body supports the uses designated in state or tribal water quality standards. For example, two rivers may have the exact same chemical and physical makeup, but one of the rivers may be considered as impaired because of different water quality standards. The following link provides more information on protecting water resources using the Clean Water Act.
Each state and tribe collects these assessments and extensive programmatic information in a 305(b) report, a document usually involving information from multiple agencies. Reports are submitted to EPA every two years. Data in 305(b) reports reflect water quality conditions for two years prior to the year of the reporting cycle.
When states identify impaired water bodies through water quality assessments, they are required to identify the waters and to develop total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for them, with oversight from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Through the TMDL process, methods are implemented to improve a water body's status to fully supporting all designated uses.
Water Quality Data and Reports
EPA uses the 305(b) reports assembled by states and other jurisdictions to prepares a biennial report to Congress. EPA's biennial report, called the National Water Quality Inventory: Report to Congress, is based on information submitted by states and tribes with input from local agencies such as watershed groups, volunteer monitoring groups, and local governments. The National Water Quality Inventory: Report to Congress is available on the Internet through the EPA Office of Water.
Individual state 305b (water quality) reports can be downloaded through this web site. The data used to create these reports is also available in a database termed the Assessment Database, also known simply as the ADB. When used in combination with EPA's STORET database, it is possible to extract designated uses, locational data, water quality data, and water quality assessments for water bodies across the United States.
Legal requirements under which water quality reports are produced
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (Public Law 92-500, commonly known as the Clean Water Act), as last reauthorized by the Water Quality Act of 1987 (Public Law 100-4), establishes a process for states to use to develop information on the quality of the nation's water resources and to report this information to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Congress, and the citizens of this country. The requirements for this process are found in Sections 106(e), 204(a), 303(d) 305(b), and 314(a) of the Clean Water Act.
Each state must develop a program to monitor the quality of its surface and ground waters and prepare a report every two years describing the status of its water quality. The EPA issues guidelines for states to use during each reporting cycle, and the states submit their final reports to EPA. EPA compiles the data from the state reports, summarizes them, and transmits summaries to Congress along with an analysis of the status of water quality nationwide. This process, referred to as the 305(b) process, is an essential aspect of the nation's water pollution control effort. It is the principal means by which the EPA, Congress, and the public evaluate water quality, the progress made in maintaining and restoring water quality, and the extent of remaining problems.
What is being done to improve reporting nationwide?
The EPA establishes both long-term and short-term goals goals to coordinate reporting efforts among the states, territories, interstate commissions, and tribes. Long-term goals, as presented in USEPA's guidelines for 305(b) reporting, are to:
- Expand use of biological indicators and reporting
- Improve technical basis and extent of assessments
- Document and improve assessment quality
- Comprehensively characterize the condition of all of the waters of the nation
- Increase the use of visuals in presenting information (e.g., data mapping)
- Develop a process for reporting by hydrological unit
- Consistently improve data management, through use of tools such as the STORET database and the National Hydrography Dataset.
