Opportunities to Improve the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program (2002) / Chapter Skim
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6 Communicating NAWQA Data and Information to Users
6 Communicating NAWQA Data and Information to Users
Pages 162-181
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From page 162... ...
This chapter first presents the types of information that are being produced at the national level and by individual study units. Next, methods for communicating results are assessed, including the findings of two separate outside evaluations of the effectiveness of NAWQA publications.
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From page 163... ...
One shortcoming of NAWQA information is that necessary changes to the program forced by budget constraints were not fully or clearly reported during the first cycle of studies. The reasoning behind decisions to delay or discontinue study units has not been well documented, nor have changes in priorities for national synthesis studies.
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From page 164... ...
The NAWQA Data Warehouse (http://water.usgs.gov/ nawqa/data) contains chemical, biological, and physical water quality data from all the study units, as well as site, basin, well, and network characteristics (USGS, 2001~.
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From page 165... ...
Many of them also provide a context for their research by identifying water quality issues that affect the entire watershed. The range of topics covered by study unit reports and other products exceeds that coming from NAWQA headquarters, simply because of the number and diversity of study unit characteristics and their individual issues, such as the impact of riparian buffers on reducing nutrient loads to groundwater in the AlbemarlePamlico Drainages Study Unit (Spruill, 2000~; the relationship between riparian cover and fish community composition in the Upper Mississippi River Basin Study Unit (Hanson, 2000~; the ability of local wetlands to degrade pesticides in the Central Nebraska Basins Study Unit (Lee et al., 1995~; and the impact of burley tobacco production on groundwater quality in the Upper Tennessee River Study Unit (Johnson and Connell,2001~.
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From page 166... ...
These include 800 reports on the findings from study unit investigations; 139 TABLE 6-1 Summary of NAWQA Publications by Type Through February 2001 WaterOpenResources Scope and Primary Fact File Investigation Digital Contents of Reports Circulars Sheets Reports Reports (CDs) Findings from study unit investigations 33 151 149 265 4 Findings from national synthesis 4 18 12 18 3 Technical documentation of study design, field protocols, and methods comparisons 1 National-level general interest and outreach 1 Subtotal by publication type 39 170 20 188
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From page 167... ...
, a management and technology consulting firm, used focus groups to obtain customer feedback on the 1991 study unit reports (all circulars) , while the now-defunct National Advisory Council (see Chapters 1 and 7 for further information)
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From page 168... ...
Suggested improvements included more references to other sources of information relevant to policy makers and resource managers; greater coverage of water quality issues unique to individual study units; data and documentation made available on the Internet; and more explanation of future research plans. NAWQA' s defunct National Advisory Council (NAC)
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From page 169... ...
The home page provides a description of the program with pertinent links to its key components, including study units, national syntheses, publications, data, and map products. A "What's New" link provides access to new publications and important updates on programrelated information.
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From page 170... ...
As discussed elsewhere in this report, SPARROW is a surface water quality model that was developed by USGS researchers outside the NAWQA Program but has become a tool often used by study units and national synthesis teams. The SPARROW Web site provides reports and articles describing the development and use of the model, examples of application at the national and watershed levels, and links to the databases used in the model.
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From page 171... ...
As noted previously, this may mean putting together briefing rooms or other features that do not rely solely on published USGS documents. Guidance from the NAWQA Leadership Team on presenting information through the Internet would benefit the study units, just as guidance has resulted in more effective study unit reports.
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From page 172... ...
The Clean Water Act set ambitious goals for national water quality, but no scientifically defensible means existed to efficiently guide the billions of dollars in public and private funds being spent on water treatment or best management practices or to determine progress toward achieving those goals. Programs designed to report on the status of the nation's water resources lacked consistency in the data collected, and sampling frameworks were not suitable for capturing the impacts of some important types of pollution, including pollution from nonpoint sources (Knopman and Smith, 1993; Leahy, 1992~.
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From page 173... ...
The study units are using a consistent format to produce reports that provide information suitable for local policy makers and resource managers. Three representative examples are the water quality reports for the Central Columbia Plateau (Williamson et al., 1998)
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From page 174... ...
The value of the national synthesis reports will increase as additional information from the second and third rounds of the Cycle I study units are added to the analyses. As discussed in Chapter 1, an excellent example of how NAWQA data can be used to assess pollution control policies is the report Review of Phosphorus Control Measures in the United States and Their Effects on Water Quality (Lithe, 1999~.
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From page 175... ...
A basic but very important question that could be asked about the nation's water quality is, Has it improved since the passage of the Clean Water Act? NAWQA is addressing important aspects of this question through its ongoing national synthesis work, but a direct discussion and explicit answer to this question could be particularly valuable to Congress, policy makers, resource managers, and the public.
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From page 176... ...
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS The NAQWA program has generated an impressive amount of information since its inception, and has kept the public reasonably well informed of its plans and findings. Both the national synthesis teams and the individual study units are providing useful information on all facets of the program, including sampling design, implementation issues, results, and interpretations.
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From page 177... ...
· The NAWQA Leadership Team headquarters should continue to work with national synthesis teams and individual study units to maintain and improve the quality of written reports, to ensure that the needs of policy makers are met, and to improve the content and consistency of NAWQA Web sites. · NAWQA should expand the use of Internet-based briefing rooms to convey important information rather than relying exclusively on electronic versions of USGS documents.
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From page 178... ...
U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment Program: Focus Groups for Customer Feedback on '91 Study Unit Reports.
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From page 179... ...
1998. Methods for Comparing Water-Quality Conditions Among National Water-Quality Assessment Study Units, 1992-1995.
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From page 180... ...
U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 99-4007.
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From page 181... ...
U.S. Geological Survey Circular 1144.
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