Key Technical Concepts and Program Review

Using USEPA’s Comprehensive Assessment and Listing Methodology guidelines as the basis, the USEPA biological criteria program, Regions and states have piloted a review procedure to examine the technical attributes of State and Tribal biological monitoring and assessment programs and how biological assessment information is used in conjunction with chemical and physical assessments to support water quality management. Increasingly, biological assessments are being used in State and Tribal programs to more precisely define designated aquatic life uses, develop biological criteria, and support development of numeric criteria for nutrients and aquatic life protection, TMDL targets for waters impaired by stormwater, and 303(d) listing decisions. With this increased interest in using biological assessments, the need to recognize and communicate technically sound approaches takes on increasing importance and urgency. It is important to provide detailed guidelines and milestones by which States, Tribes, and USEPA can evaluate progress when developing and improving biological monitoring and assessment programs.

Beginning in 2001, a biological monitoring and assessment technical program review methodology was developed and piloted in Region 5 and then more recently applied and further refined in Region 1.  Regions 1 and 5 have supported all of their states in evaluating the technical strengths and needs of their biological monitoring and assessment programs in context of each state’s water management program policy and water quality standards.  Additionally, several states have individually field tested the program review process.  In all cases, the states have used the evaluation results to target resources and prioritize actions to strengthen their technical programs to better support water management decisionsmaking.  A check list of the core technical elements of a biological assessment program has been developed and refined as a result these reviews and includes such factors as selection of indicator assemblages; defining reference site criteria; choosing appropriate index period; and evaluating classification approaches.  Additionally, one of the lesson learned is that an effective technical program review analyzes the flow of biological information through the agency, e.g., designation of aquatic life uses, integration with other uses and criteria, assessment and listing protocols, TMDL development, and permitting. This analysis has been identified as critical to the design of an effective monitoring and assessment program - a program that produces and delivers in a timely manner the information needed by water program managers for their decisionmaking.

In sum, the quality and level of rigor of a biological monitoring and assessment program is dependent upon the quality and level of resolution of core critical technical elements.  The core technical elements identified through the pilots are listed below but can be consolidated into three general catergories: 1) survey design (the extent of temporal {index period} and spatial coverage, natural classification, characterization of reference conditions, and reference site criteria), 2) methodology (number of assemblages, field sampling, sample processing, and management of the data), and 3) quality of the interpretation (ecological attributes, biological endpoints, diagnostic capability, and professional peer review). Certain aspects of monitoring and assessment, particularly quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC), are inherent in several technical elements of a viable biologicial assessment approach.

Key Technical Elements of a Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program

Design
1. Index period
2. Spatial coverage
3. Natural classification
4. Criteria for reference sites
5. Reference conditions

Methods
6. Taxonomic Resolution
7. Sample collection
8. Sample processing
9. Data management

Interpretation
10. Ecological attributes
11. Biological endpoints
12. Diagnostic capability
13. Professional review

A summary of the regional and state biological monitoring and assessment program review pilots, including key lessons learned, will be provided soon.

Additionally, some of the technical programmatic reviews were jointly undertaken by the regions and states to support development of refined aquatic life uses. This approach, when adopted into Water Quality Standards, is sometimes called tiered aquatic life uses. Such an approach has been developed by Maine, Ohio and Vermont and adopted into WQS and/or statutory provisions. A presentation of the results of these first program reviews was provided at a monitoring and assessment symposium sponsored by U.S. EPA Office of Research and (Yoder, C.O., and M.T. Barbour. 2009. Critical elements of state bioassessment programs: a process to evaluate program rigor and comparability (PDF) (12 pp, 246K, About PDF). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 150(1): 31-42. DOI: 10.1007/s10661-008-0671-1).

For more information on evaluation of state and tribal biological assessment programs, please contact:

Susan Jackson, US EPA Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water, jackson.susank@epa.gov
Edward Hammer, US EPA Region 5, hammer.edward@epa.gov
Diane Switzer, US EPA Region 1, switzer.diane@epa.gov