Developing Learning Materials for
Surface Water Monitoring
Presented by Stacey Hancock
Advised by Scott Urquhart
Colorado State University
PAGE # 1
STARMAP FUNDING
Space-Time Aquatic Resources Modeling and Analysis Program
The work reported here today was developed under
the STAR Research Assistance Agreement CR829095 awarded by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to Colorado State
University. This presentation has not been formally
reviewed by EPA. The views expressed here are
solely those of presenter and STARMAP, the
Program she represents. EPA does not endorse any
products or commercial services mentioned in these
presentation.
This research is funded by
U.S.EPA – Science To Achieve
Results (STAR) Program
Cooperative
# CR - 829095
Agreement
PAGE # 2
Overview
 The
Clean Water Act, EMAP and EPA
Wadeable Streams Assessment
 Goals
of surface water monitoring
training materials
 Format
of tutorial
 Creating
 Future
PAGE # 3
the tutorial
work
Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act
(CWA):
Water Quality Inventory

(1) Each State shall prepare and submit to
the Administrator …biennially …a report which
shall include


a description of the water quality of all
navigable waters in such State…
(2) The Administrator shall transmit such
State reports, together with an analysis
thereof, to Congress …biennially thereafter.
PAGE # 4
Statistical Issues in Past
Implementation of the CWA
 No
criteria for how States were to
select waters on which to report.
 State’s
sites often reflected data
gathered in response to some complaint.

PAGE # 5
Thus, it was assumed that the actual
condition of the Nation’s waters is
substantially better than reported.
Goals of the Environmental Monitoring and
Assessment Program (EMAP)




Develop the scientific understanding for translating
environmental monitoring data from multiple spatial
and temporal scales into assessments of current
ecological condition and forecasts of future risks to
our natural resources.
Advance the science of ecological monitoring and
ecological risk assessment, guide national monitoring
with improved scientific understanding of ecosystem
integrity and dynamics, and demonstrate multiagency monitoring through large regional projects.
Develop indicators to monitor the condition of
ecological resources.
Investigate designs that address the acquisition,
aggregation, and analysis of multiscale and multitier
data.
PAGE # 6
EMAP -West



Seek to develop and demonstrate the tools needed to
measure ecological condition of the aquatic resources
in the 14 western states in EPAs Regions 8, 9, and
10.
Series of reports on the ecological condition of water
resources at the state and regional level.
Five components:
PAGE # 7

Design and Analysis

Coastal

Surface Waters

Landscapes

Information Management
EMAP-West Region
PAGE # 8
EMAP-West Objectives




PAGE # 9
Estimate current status in selected indicators of
the West’s inland aquatic and estuarine resources
on a state and regional basis with known confidence.
Estimate the geographic extent and distribution of
the West’s inland aquatic and estuarine resources
with known confidence.
Seek associations between selected indicators of
natural and anthropogenic stresses and indicators
of the ecological condition of target resources.
Provide a statistical summary and an assessment of
the condition of the West’s inland aquatic and
estuarine resources.
Wadeable Streams Assessment
Part of EMAP-West Surface Waters component
 Study of the ecological condition of small
streams throughout the U.S.
 Designed like an opinion poll: 500 sites were
selected at random to represent the condition
of all streams in regions that share similar
ecological characteristics.
 First time a national monitoring study of
streams has been conducted using this
approach.
 http://www.epa.gov/owow/monitoring/wsa/

PAGE # 10
Wadeable Streams Assessment Sampling Sites. Green
dots represent sites that were sampled in summer of
2004; red dots represent sites that were sampled
before summer of 2004.
PAGE # 11
Wadeable Streams Assessment:
Key Statistical Components
 Probability-based
site selection
design for sampling
 Standardized
field sampling and lab
processing protocols
 Comprehensive
program
 Standardized
 Analysis
PAGE # 12
quality assurance
data management system
plan for ecological assessment
Why Create a Surface Waters Monitoring Tutorial?
 Alternative
to lectures and field work
demonstrations
 Distance
learning available to larger
group of people
 Comprehensive
resource for teaching
appropriate statistical methods in
surface water sampling
PAGE # 13
Desirable Features of Tutorial



Distance learning concepts
Audio/Video and dynamic graphics
Variable-level (user selectable) presentations to
include at least







Manager level overview; general intro
User level – details for usage
Background theory
Illustrative pictures, regionally selectable by user
Definition lists, including balloons associated with
many technical words
Include case studies
Accessable from a CD ROM resident in the machine –
Interactive pdf file.
PAGE # 14
Format of Tutorial
 Why
monitor?
 Where
 What
to monitor?
to monitor?
 How
to monitor?
 How
to summarize?
PAGE # 15
Creating the Tutorial
 Microsoft
Word

Table of contents

Bookmarks and links

Document map and headers
 Adobe
Acrobat

Inserting movies

Navigation tools
PAGE # 16
Problems Encountered



Movies embedded in Word document don’t
convert to pdf
Need to define bookmarks in Word before
links can be created
Easier way to insert navigation tools in pdf?


PAGE # 17
Currently insert arrows in Word footer, then
create links in pdf
Headers convert to Bookmarks, but don’t retain
outline ordering
Tutorial Demo
 Excerpt
section
PAGE # 18
from the “How to Monitor”
Future Work
 Complete
other four sections of tutorial
 Create
glossary with links from terms
within the tutorial
 Generalize
Northwest
to areas other than the
 Suggestions
PAGE # 19
welcome!