REPORTS--Protocols Developed for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program WGS-Mail Stop 412 January 4, 1990 OFFICE OF WATER QUALITY TECHNICAL MEMORANDUM 90.05 Subject: REPORTS--Protocols Developed for the National Water-Quality Assessment Program The geographically distributed studies of the National Water- Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program must use identical approaches and methods so results can be (1) compared for the various study units, and (2) effectively aggregated to address regional and national scope issues. To provide consistency among projects, a number of protocols have been developed, documented, and used during the pilot phase of NAWQA. Each of the NAWQA protocols is targeted for publication to provide citable reports that can be shared with other agencies and universities. Beginning with this memorandum, the Office of Water Quality (OWQ) will periodically distribute published and draft NAWQA protocols to Division Offices and projects. The purpose of distributing NAWQA protocols within the Division is to provide source materials to individuals involved in the development and conduct of water-quality projects. The OWQ recognizes that, to some degree, different methodologies will continue to be needed by the various water-quality programs of the Division. Hence, the protocols are not being distributed to set policy, but rather to share ideas, stimulate discussion, and encourage WRD personnel to use NAWQA protocols in other programs when such use is reasonable. To the degree that identical protocols can be used in our various programs, the Division will have an improved ability to (1) contrast and compare water-quality conditions measured at similar sites, by different programs, at different times, and (2) pool the water-quality data to examine regional and national scope problems. This memorandum conveys two ground-water protocols from the pilot NAWQA Program. The first, Open-File Report 89-396, is entitled "Well Installation and Documentation, and Ground- Water Sampling Protocols" by Mark A. Hardy, P. Patrick Leahy, and William M. Alley. The report presents criteria for selecting and documenting wells, installing new wells, and sampling from wells for selected water-quality constituents. The report is not a general purpose field manual. Instead, it is intended to supplement other published documents and technical memorandums of the Division. The second report, Water-Resources Investigations Report 89-4172, is entitled "A Computerized Data-Base System for Land-Use and Land-Cover Data Collected at Ground-Water Sampling Sites in the Pilot National Water-Quality Assessment Program" by Jonathan C. Scott. This report documents a data- management system for data recorded on a land-use and land- cover field sheet completed at each sampled well. The field sheets are intended to document information on local land use and land cover in the immediate vicinity of sampled wells at a finer resolution than is available from other sources. By updating the field sheets over time, historical changes in land use and land cover will be documented. A copy of the field sheet is provided with the report. The computer program is available from Jon Scott in the Oklahoma District. Any questions about these two protocols should be directed to Bill Alley (FTS 959-5710). David A. Rickert Chief, Office of Water Quality 3 Attachments This memorandum does not supersede any previous memorandum. WRD Distribution: A, B, PO, FO (1 copy per office) Key Words: Water quality, ground water, methods, data base