Developing Procedures for Water Quality Reporting for National Parks Dean Tucker and Michael Matz, National Park Service Charles Spooner, Environmental Protection Agency Dwane Young and Randy Dodd, RTI, International Robert Deffenbaugh and Cindy McKay, Horizon Systems Lassen Volcanic National Park, CA

The National Park Service cares for 384 National Park Units in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico & the Virgin Islands. Salem Maritime National Historic Site, MA

Places with faces… Channel Islands National Park, CA Yellowstone National Park, WY Mount Rushmore National Memorial, SD

…and wide open spaces. Theodore Roosevelt National Park, ND

Places where you can walk the battlefield that changed the tide of the Civil War… Gettysburg National Military Park, PA

…or learn about the man who made civil rights a reality. Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Site, GA

Places that help us remember the pain… Andersonville National Historic Site, GA

…the people… Lincoln Memorial, DC

…and the places that forged the American character. Fort Clatsop National Memorial, OR

Places that help us learn from ancient civilizations... Mesa Verde National Park, CO

…and get away from civilization altogether. Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

Places with inspiring stories... Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island National Monument, NY

…and places that give us stories to tell. Virgin Islands National Park, VI

Jean LaFitte National Historical Park and Preserve French Quarter Visitor Center The center is located at 419 Decatur Street in the French Quarter. The center is a site of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve, established in 1978 to help preserve and interpret the cultural diversity of the Mississippi Delta region. Rangers at the French Quarter Visitor Center can provide information about other park sites, facilities, and programs. Call (504) for further information. In New Orleans

The National Park System Caring for the American Legacy "...to promote and regulate the use of the...national parks...which purpose is to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." National Park Service Organic Act, 16 U.S.C.1. The Mission

Water Resources of the National Park System 137,400 miles of rivers & streams 1,550 miles of CWA 303(d) impaired rivers & streams

Water Resources of the National Park System 5,024,000 acres of lakes, reservoirs, estuaries and marine areas 742,260 acres of CWA 303(d) impaired lakes, reservoirs, estuaries, and marine areas

110 Parks Contain CWA 303(d) Impaired Waters

CWA governs WQ in the NPS Seek ONRW or OSRW status Condition NPDES permits Cooperate with external land managers Restoration and/or mitigation Evaluate existing data and collect new data National Park Service Water Quality Management

Servicewide Inventory and Monitoring Program Water Quality Data Water Body Location and Classification Natural Resource Challenge – Water Quality – Vital Signs Networks National Park Service Water Quality Management

Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Reports “...to provide descriptive water quality information in a format usable for resource management and park planning in furtherance of the NPS’ mission.” Goal:

To retrieve water quality and related data from the EPA’s STORET and other data systems; To develop a complete inventory of retrieved data; To characterize period-of-record, annual, and seasonal central tendencies and trends with descriptive statistics and appropriate graphics; Objectives: Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Reports

To compare water quality data with relevant EPA and WRD screening criteria; To determine the presence/absence of “Level I” water quality data; and To establish a park (and national) water quality database To guide new monitoring efforts Objectives: Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Reports

234 Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Reports at parks horizon.htm Need to prepare reports for 40 more parks Status: Baseline Water Quality Data Inventory and Analysis Reports

Redeveloping Report Procedures Modernized STORET Legacy STORET USGS NWIS Other Sources

Problems/Issues/Editorials Limited to 30,000 results retrieved from modernized STORET Web Warehouse STORET Web Warehouse doesn’t contain all the data in STORET

Problems/Issues/Editorials NPS will run copies of National STORET and STORET Web Warehouse on its servers (also Legacy STORET) Periodic refreshes from EPA

Retrieval Example for Grand Canyon National Park Grand Canyon National Park and Study Area 113˚ 58’ 55.65’’ 36˚ 51’ 51.98’’ 35˚ 45’ 2.57’’ 111˚ 35’ 58.32’’ Create Max/Min Lat/Lon Bounding Rectangle Pull Data from Modernized and Legacy STORET, NWIS, and Other Sources Display Results Retain Only those Stations and Results from the Study Area

Problems/Issues/Editorials Characteristics vs. Parameter Codes Remark Codes Units of Measure

1)Medium 2)Matrix 3)Fraction 4)Field/Lab 5)Unit of Measure 6)Temperature Basis 7)Duration Basis 8)Weight Basis 9)Statistic Type 10)Particle Basis 11)Additional Info * 12)Method 13)Value Type 14)CAS Number Parameter Code/Characteristic Harmonization Adopt Modernized STORET’s “normalized” approach: * Additional Info isn’t a field in Modernized STORET

424 Parameter Codes from Legacy STORET 524 Parameter Codes from NWIS Map to characteristic name or pseudo- characteristic name and up to 14 attributes Parameter Code/Characteristic Harmonization P00605 NITROGEN, ORGANIC, TOTAL (MG/L AS N) P00605 Organic nitrogen, water, unfiltered, milligrams per liter Nitrogen organic (1275), Water, Total, Lab, mg/l

Remark codes from Legacy STORET and NWIS mapped to appropriate report database fields Remark Code Harmonization Legacy STORET Remark Codes ‘A’ = Value is the mean of two or more determinations Set: Value Type: Calculated Statistic Type: Mean NWIS Remark Codes ‘<‘ = Actual value is known to be less than the value shown Set: Detection Limit: the result value Result Value as Text: *Non-detect Result Value: Null

Legacy STORET and NWIS Parameter Code Units of Measure will be converted to the EPA’s “Standard Units” for the characteristic. Standardized Units of Measure from all data sources will be converted to Preferred Units based on characteristic and medium. Units of Measure

Result records will include 28 character CP Codes Characteristic Permutations (CP Codes) Characteristc1 to 6 Medium7 Matrix8 to 10 Sample Fraction11 to 12 Field/Lab13 Unit of Measure14 to 16 Temperature Basis17 to 18 Duration Basis19 to 20 Weight Basis21 Statistic Type22 to 23 Particle Size24 to 28 CP CodeDescription

Unique autogenerated Station IDs based on location Removal of duplicate data Data QC (erroneous values, etc.) Other Database Standardization Features

Define a Study Area Query Web or Local Servers Compile Data Integrate/Harmonize Data, Remove Duplicates, QC Create Integrated Access Database Process Schematic to Generate an Integrated Access Database

Station/Characteristic Period of Record Tabulation Generate Tables and Graphics, Compile Report Individual Station Descriptive Statistics Individual Station Box & Whiskers Plots

20+ complex tables in Microsoft Word Time Series, Seasonal and Annual Box & Whisker Plots Hyperlinks Compiled together into one document, then converted to Adobe PDF. Invented new technology to make it work Broke down report into its individual components, with each component having properties Generate Tables and Graphics, Compile Report

National Parks managed to leave resources unimpaired Water quality in at least 110 units of the National Park System is impaired Baseline Water Quality Reports Prelude to additional inventory & monitoring activities Share documented data in an open system Summary Jean LaFitte National Historical Park and Preserve – Barataria Unit

Contact Info: Dean F. Tucker (970) Michael M. Matz (970)