Waterbody Assessment Unit Identification
Ken Edwardson
Water Quality Assessment Program
Kenneth.Edwardson@des.nh.gov
http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/swqa/index.htm
May 9, 2010 – Rivers Management Advisory Committee
• How the current format of the AUIDs were
generated (2001)
• How to Find AUIDs and Assessments
• Refinement of “Lakes” and “Impoundment”
categorizations.
The Assessment Unit ID (AUID)
• Basic unit of record for all water quality assessments.
• Intended to be representative of homogenous segments
• Large enough be a manageable number of AUs for
reporting. Small enough to a avoid grossly inaccurate
assessments.
• Factors used to establish homogenous AUs for assessments
include:
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breaks in waterbody type (Lake, Impoundment, River, Ocean, Estuary)
12 digit HUC boundaries
water quality standard changes (Class A / B)
pollutant sources
maximum AU size for rivers and streams
major changes in land use
stream order/location of major tributaries
public water supplies
outstanding resource waters
shellfish program categories
designated beaches
cold water fish spawning areas.
Getting to
the AUID
• State +
• Water Type +
• HUC12 +
(dropping the ‘010’)
• Unique ID
WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENTS
GETTING THE DATA YOU NEED - Watershed Report Cards
The 2010 Watershed Report Cards provide a summary of all assessed
water quality parameters of the 305(b)/303(d)
http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/swqa/report_cards.htm
1. SUMMARY REPORT CARD - A one-page summary of the
overall use support for Aquatic Life, Primary Contact (i.e., swimming),
Secondary Contact (i.e., boating), and Fish Consumption Designated
Uses on every Assessment Unit ID (AUID) within the HUC12.
2. HUC12 MAP
To see the spatial
extent of each
Assessment Unit
(AUID) use the
HUC12 watershed
map with abbreviated
AUID labels.
Note:
While the maps shows AUIDs in other
HUC12s, each Report Card only applies
to AUIDS in the HUC12 described at
the top of the map.
In this HUC 12
R*09 = NHRIV700010701-09
3. ASSESSMENT DETAILS - Details for each
Assessment Unit (AUID) in the Summary Report Card (1)
and Map (2) appear in subsequent pages of the Report Card .
Note:
There can be
as many as 80
of these
subsequent
pages.
What is the difference between a Lake
and an Impoundment?
Historically (i.e. as generated in 2001 for the 2002
assessment)
– If the DES Lake Trophic Surveys sampled something as a
‘lake’ it was brought into the database as a NHLAK*.
– If there was a polygon on the map not generated by a dam,
not DES Lake Trophic Surveyed, and did not look like a
wetland it was brought into the database as a NHLAK*.
– If there was a polygon on the map generated by a dam and
not DES Lake Trophic Surveyed it was brought into the
database as a NHIMP*.
Once implemented, new freshwater AUIDs
will have the following rough definitions
Waterbody
Type
Code Rough Definition
WQStds to
Apply
Measurement
Units
Rivers
RIV
Flowing waters
River
Miles
Riverine
Impoundments
RIP
Flowing waters with
River
dams that do not generate
stratification and maintain
high turnover rates
Miles
Impoundments
IMP
Stratifies and has a low
turnover rate. Looks
lake/pond like but in the
absence of the dam it
would be a river
Lake
Acres
Lakes
LAK Natural lakes and lakes
raised by damming
Lake
Acres
Lines of evidence to determine which
waterbody type should be applied to a given
waterbody
• Environmental Monitoring Database (EMD) for the waterbody
details table.
•
•
•
•
EMD data collected by VLAP surveys.
Dam database for dam details.
Public Waters List
2008 & 2010 Assessment DB (ADB) for determinations of
stratification
• Aerial Photos in GIS
• National Wetlands Inventory (NWI)
• Anything else we can reasonable access.