Elements of a State Water Monitoring and Assessment Program
The CWA gives states and territories the primary responsibility for implementing programs to protect and restore water quality, including monitoring and assessing the nation's waters and reporting on their quality. CWA Section 106(e)(1) requires EPA to determine that a state is monitoring the quality of navigable waters, compiling, and analyzing data on water quality, and including it in the state's Section 305(b) report prior to the award of Section 106 grant funds.
This document recommends the basic elements of a state water monitoring program and serves as a tool to help EPA and the states determine whether a monitoring program meets the prerequisites of CWA Section 106(e)(1).