In the attached tables, categories of indicators for monitoring water-resource quality, as well as uses and management objectives, are listed and prioritized. The indicators are meant to describe the suitability of the water-resource use by management objective, not the effect of a usage on a water resource. Table 1 is a summary matrix of indicator groups versus categories of management objectives and presents an overview of appropriate usage. Table 2, which provides a brief rationale for the use of the indicator type, expands the information in table 1. All water-resource groups are addressed by the matrix--streams and rivers, lakes and reservoirs, wetlands, estuaries, coastal waters, and the Great Lakes. An indicator or indicator type, which has been identified as having priority, may not be applicable to the entire spectrum of water-body types. Specifically, different individual indicators are more important for evaluation of some water-body types than others.
Environmental indicators are a valuable tool for detecting problems and identifying causal relations. They allow management decisions to be made related to the protection of water-resource quality.
Three broad categories of environmental indicators--human health, ecological health, and economic concerns--are related to six water uses that represent specific management objectives. These management objectives are analogous to the "designated uses" that States set in their water-quality standards and report to the USEPA as part of the 305(b) program. The term "management objectives" is more broadly applicable to the interests of the numerous agencies and offices involved in the ITFM process. Within the broad areas of human health, ecological health, or economic concerns, the six categories of management objectives include three for human health--consumption of fish, shellfish, and wildlife; public water supply and food processing; and recreation (boating and swimming). Ecological health management objectives considered are in the context of aquatic and semiaquatic life, protected species, and aquaculture and recreation (fishing and catchability). For economic concerns, management objectives are industry (makeup and cooling water), transportation and hydropower, and agriculture and forestry.
Indicator categories are broad areas of environmental information that can encompass many specific measures related to those categories. For example, specific measures within the macroinvertebrate category can be derived from assemblage, community, population data, and lethal and sublethal toxicity data. Other biological indicator categories are fish, semiaquatic wildlife, pathogens and fecal indicator organisms, phytoplankton, periphyton, aquatic and semiaquatic plants, and zooplankton.
The category "chemical exposure/water chemistry" includes oxidative state, ionic strength, nutrients, potentially hazardous chemicals in water, sediment, and organismal tissue/bioaccumulation. Indicator categories related to physical habitat include water quantity, water temperature, suspended sediment/turbidity, bed sediment and substrate, geomorphology, and riparian vegetation. Watershed-level stressors refer to factors that are often large scale and, in some cases, change at a different temporal scale than the other categories. Generally, these stressors are extrinsic to the aquatic system and include land-use patterns; vegetative cover; loading or application of chemical, sewage, or animal wastes; acid deposition; reaeration potential; channel or flow modification; sedimentary indicators; and location.
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