1. Methods Board Report National Water Quality Monitoring Council July 28, 2005

2. Methods Board Report Board Emphasis on Network Design – Discussed Previously Focus in This Report on Water Quality Data Elements –Biological Data Elements and WQDE Guide to be Presented to ACWI for Approval in September NEMI Wadeable Streams Assessment (WSA) Update Outreach -- Newsletter Distributed Board Has Not Met Since Last Council Meeting – next meeting scheduled for mid-October 2005

3. What are the Water Quality Data Elements? Who? (Which organizations are responsible?) What? (What was monitored & found?) Where? (Where was the monitoring done?) When? (When was the monitoring done?) Why? (Why was the monitoring conducted?) How? (How was the sampling/ testing done?)  Information about data that answer basic questions to facilitate data exchange:

4. Objective: To develop and recommend a “core” set of data elements to be used to structure the sharing and archiving of water quality data Voluntarily implemented Allow data to be compared regardless of, but recognizing the purpose of, the monitoring activity

5. Data Element Modules 1 - Contacts 2 - Analyte / Endpoint Result 3 - Reason for Sampling 4 - Date/Time of Sampling 5 - Location 6 - Sample Collection Methods 7 - Sample Analysis Methods & QA/QC

6. Data Components MMetadata  ?Who ?What ?Where ?When FWhy (“The objective of the study was…”) FHow (Methods) [Data Collection [Data Processing [Data Analysis [QA/QC Derived Data >Metric values >LC50’s >Index scores >Biocriteria “Anything that requires math” Primary Data >Samples/Events >Locational Info >Organisms/ Analytes >Counts/Measure- ments

7. Status of Data Elements Chemical and microbiological elements approved by ACWI on May 15, 2001 and being implemented / considered by several agencies Biological elements (individuals/ populations/community) approved by the Methods Board (2003) and NWQMC (2004); in review by ACWI Toxicity elements approved by the Methods Board (2003) and NWQMC (2004); in review by ACWI WQDE Guide approved by the Methods Board and Council 2004 Physical habitat elements – under development

8. Status of Data Elements (continued) Chem/micro data elements approved and adopted by the Environmental Data Standards Council Biological data elements recommended by US EPA for the Wadeable Streams Assessment Adapted by the Pacific NW Data Exchange, Delaware River Basin Commission, and the California State Water Resources Control Board

9. WQDE Next Steps ACWI Meeting – September 14 Early August –Distribute biological elements once again to ACWI –Distribute WQDE Guide to ACWI –Include cover letter Late August –Conference Call to discuss with ACWI members September 1 –ACWI approval request by E-mail for Biological Data Elements and publication of WQDE Guide. Also letter to member agencies requesting use of WQDE in monitoring programs

10. NEMI NEMI (Dan Sullivan, Cary Jackson) –Vision statement completed –ES&T paper appeared as a feature article on 4/15 –Funding Proposal submitted to Green Chemistry Institute –CRADA development moving forward. Partners being shopped through advertisement and one on one discussions. Hach management committed $20K per year for 3 years. -Addition of biological and other methods ongoing -Field Activities Committee. Fraceska Wilde playing major role. Methods fields being assessed and methods being added –NEMI-CBR and expert system peer review completed. Public release late summer (subject to additional reviews)

11. Methods Board Advisory Group on Bioassessment Comparability Board Advisory Group formed with first meeting on March 8, 2005 Projects: –Analysis of Wadeable Stream Assessment Comparability Study data (March 05 – Dec 06) –Critical Review of the State-of-the-Science of Bioassessment Comparability (May – Aug 05) –EPA Guidance on Bioassessment Comparability (March 05 – June 07) –National Workshop on Bioassessment Comparability at the NWQM Conference (Nov 06) –New Bioassessment Comparability Studies (Oct 05 – June 07)

12. Outreach Outreach (Eric Vowinkel, Acting) –Next edition of Across the Board being distributed – Eric prepared initial draft –Participated in EPA Science Forum Session on Collaboration and Comparability in Water Quality Monitoring Programs – Papers presented on NMND, WAS, WQDE, NEMI Poster On Monitoring Framework Poster on NEMI-CBR

13. Status of Projects WSA Comparability Study Data Analysis - Some studies completed already with data available in late Spring early Summer 2005 (beginning year 2 of 2-yr program) - Results of completed studies being analyzed and will be reported in Final WSA Report (Dec 05) - Data Analysis meeting of Comparability Study cooperators September 7-9, Baltimore, MD - Board Advisory Group will participate in and provide advice to cooperators and EPA at data analysis meeting

14. Status of Projects cont. Critical Review of State-of-the-Science of Bioassessment Comparability - Board Advisory Group provided input on design of the review and potential sources for the procurement at the March 8 Board Meeting - EPA issued a small business competitive simplified acquisition for this project to Utah State University (project duration: May – August 2005) - Board Advisory Group will provide input to the project by reviewing progress and the draft report

15. Status of Projects cont. EPA Bioassessment Comparability Guidance At the March 8 th Meeting: - Board Advisory Group discussed the general approach to determining comparability - The Board Advisory Group also proposed a draft outline for the guidance Current Status: - The draft outline for the Guidance was revised upon further review by the Board Advisory Group and EPA Workgroup - Materials, references have been posted to Board internal web site for review and evaluation - First draft of guidance is being developed and will be available at end of the year

16. Status of Projects cont. NWQM Conference May 06 - Workshop on Bioassessment Performance and Comparability planned for San Jose meeting to present and discuss Advisory Board-related activities and obtain feedback. National EPAWorkshop & New Comparability Studies - A National EPA-Sponsored Workshop is planned for Nov 06 to coincide with final draft of guidance document - New Comparability Studies will be planned for FY 06

17. Status of Projects cont Completed formation of Board Advisory Group (e.g., added USGS experts) Held Board Advisory Group conference call July 14 to discuss status of WSA Comparability Studies; status of Critical Review; status of analyses of recently completed WSA comparability studies; and draft outline of guidance document Regular Board Advisory Group conference calls will be held to discuss and provide input to projects