Human Dimensions of Watershed Impacts

[EPA] 2003 Mar 13. Introduction to the Clean Water Act. US EPA Watershed Academy Web. <http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/cwa/>

This is one of 15 required modules in the EPA’s Watershed Academy Certificate Program. It provides a comprehensive overview of the history and components of the Clean Water Act, including water quality standards, antidegradation, waterbody monitoring and assessment, reporting requirements, total maximum daily loads (TMDLs), pollution discharge permits, and wetland policies.

[South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control] 2004 Oct 22. Surface Water Monitoring Program. <http://www.scdhec.net/water/html/surface.html>

This is an example of a state’s biological, water quality, and shellfish monitoring program. It includes ambient surface water monitoring that measures physical water parameters at stations across the state and periodic analysis of chemical properties of collected sediment and surface water. It also includes an aquatic toxicology program. The site provides links to laws, regulations, common water quality indicators, and instructions for access the programs data on the EPA’s STORET site..

[EPA] 2003 Dec 15. STORET Database Access. <http://www.epa.gov/storet/dbtop.html>

STORET is a water quality database maintained by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It contains raw biological, chemical, and physical data collected for surface and ground water by federal, state and local agencies, as well as a suite of other water quality groups. This webpage allows you to access current and archived data for all 50 states, territories and US jurisdictions. It also provides a link to the USGS database for water quality data owned by the USGS.

[EPA] 2003 Dec 3. WATERS: Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental Results< http://www.epa.gov/waters/>

WATERS is an information system that connects several surface water quality databases from the EPA’s Office of Water (OW) into a large framework for a more comprehensive look at the health of watersheds. This website can be used to answer questions such as: “Can I eat the fish in my watershed? Is it safe to swim the water?” This site also provides a download for EnviroMapper for Water, an interactive web-based GIS tool that allows you to customize maps of and display water quality information for waterbodies near you.

[EPA] 2004 Oct 13. Ground Water & Drinking Water. <http://www.epa.gov/safewater/>

This website provides information about local drinking water quality, source water protection, drinking water standards, public drinking water systems, and underground injection well control. The link to Drinking Water and Health Basics gives a clear overview of “What you need to know” about drinking water quality. This site also provides a link through its Kids Stuff page to educational materials for grades K-12.