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Monitoring water
quality helps biologists detect contaminants in aquatic
habitats that may not be obvious to casual observers.
Photo Keith Weller/USFWS
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Protective water quality standards are important for the conservation
and enhancement of fish, wildlife, and their habitats and for
the continuing benefit of the American people. The objective
of the Clean
Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical,
and biological integrity of the Nation's waters. The goal of
this law is to establish national water quality that provides
for the protection of fish, shellfish, and wildlife as well
as providing safe recreational use of the Nation's water bodies.
Poor water quality can harm species and habitats, and must
be assessed in activities such as wastewater discharge. Many
factors are known to cause poor water quality including temperature,
sedimentation, runoff, erosion, dissolved oxygen, pH, decayed
organic materials, pesticides, and an array of other toxic
and hazardous substances. As an example the poor quality of
irrigation drainage water and discharges from collecting systems
are known to cause the accumulation of toxic substances as
well as reproductive and developmental problems in shorebirds,
waterfowl, and fish.
Current Service information shows that nearly 50 percent
of the species at risk are water dependent. This means that
nearly fifty percent of the species listed as endangered or
threatened live in water throughout their life cycles, do
so in one or more of the life stages, or depend heavily upon
aquatic plants and animals as a foodbase. Of this 50%, about
20% are listed as endangered and nearly 30% as threatened.
Given these statistics on the plight of species, the goals
of the Clean Water Act are all the more important. The Service
works with States, local communities, and other Federal agencies
to ensure that water quality standards protect natural resources.
The Service's expertise in determining the effect of proposed
standards on fish and wildlife resources is broadly recognized
and this expertise is used in developing protective standards.
The Service signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)
with the Environmental Protection Agency and National Marine
Fisheries Service addressing interagency coordination under
the Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act. [TEXT
Version] [PDF
file]
Links:
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey.
Water Information Coordination Program - http://water.usgs.gov/wicp/
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Environmental
Contaminants: Issues - Endocrine (Hormone) Disruptors http://contaminants.fws.gov/Issues/EndocrineDisruptors.cfm
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Environmental
Contaminants: Studies
Focus on the Health of Washington D.C.'s Rivers
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Irrigation Water
Quality Program - http://www.usbr.gov/niwqp
U.S. EPA, Office of Water - http://www.epa.gov/ow/
U.S. EPA, Office of Water. The Quality of Our Nations Waters
- http://www.epa.gov/305b/
U.S. EPA, Office of Water. Atlas of America's Polluted Waters
(maps showing the waters within each state
that do not meet state water quality standards) - http://www.epa.gov/owow/tmdl/atlas/
U.S. Geological Survey. Welcome to the USGS Water Quality
Information Pages - http://water.usgs.gov/owq/
U.S. Geological Survey. National Water Quality Assessment
Study Units - http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/nawqamap.html
U.S. Geological Survey. Revised Protocols for Sampling Algal,
Invertebrate, and Fish Communities as Part of the National
Water-Quality Assessment Program - http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/protocols/OFR02-150/OFR02-150.pdf
U.S. Department of Agricultural, Natural Resource Conservation
Service. State of the Land: Water Quality Issues - http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/land/wqual.html
The River Network. Watershed Assistance Grants (Funds
community-based partnerships that promote watershed protection
and/or restoration) - http://www.rivernetwork.org/howwecanhelp/howwag.cfm
Updated: June 15, 2004
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