Bioassessment and Biocriteria Program Status for Michigan: Streams and Wadeable Rivers
State Program Contact
Water Quality Standards
WQS Information
The link to Michigan's WQS that are in effect for Clean Water Act purposes is provided. These are the WQS approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The state of Michigan provided information and links to sections of their administrative code on designated aquatic life use, biological criteria, antidegradation as well as technical support documents and information on its bioassessment and biocriteria programs. These are included for your convenience and may or may not reflect the most recently EPA-approved WQS.
Designated Aquatic Life Uses
- Coldwater fisheries: trout, salmon, whitefish, and cisco
- Warmwater fisheries: fish species that thrive in relatively warmwater, including any of the following: bass, pike, walleye, panfish
- Other indigenous aquatic life and wildlife
Biological Criteria
_____ Narrative
_____ Numeric
__X__ No criteria
Antidegradation Policy
Michigan’s antidegradation rules are found at R 323.1098 (pdf).
Biological Assessment
What biological assemblages are used in the bioassessment program?
Benthic macroinvertebrates and fish
Are bioassessments used to support 303(d) listings?
Yes. Listing methodology: Water Quality and Pollution Control in Michigan Sections 303(d), 305(b), and 314 Integrated Report
How are assemblages used to make impairment decisions?
Independently applied
Other uses of biocriteria or bioassessment within the water quality program:
TMDL development and assessment, antidegradation, non-point source assessments, BMP evaluation, 305(b) surface water condition assessments, and evaluation of discharge permit conditions
Technical Support Information and Documents
Reference condition
The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is in the process of recalibrating their macroinvertebrate bioassessment procedure using the reference condition concept as the basis for determining attainment. The process includes defining reference criteria (i.e., least impacted available), establishing site classes that account for natural variability in communities, testing and evaluation of multiple macroinvertebrate metrics, and combining the most responsive metrics into an index. Each metric is selected to be included in the index if it shows a consistent response along a known disturbance gradient. The combined index gives an indication of biological condition relative to the disturbance gradient, and attainment of water quality standards determined relative to reference condition. A draft of the update will be available following internal validation of the procedure (Anticipated Fall 2022).
Biocriteria
Not applicable.
Stressor identification/causal analysis approach
Not applicable.