IntroductionOver the last 20-40 years major progress has been made in characterizing the hydrochemical functioning of catchments based on extensive, high-quality monitoring programmes. These data are vital for addressing issues, such as long-term responses of streams to external pressures, to assess the environmental impact. This is critical, for example, in relation to the issue of acidic deposition (
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INVITED COMMENTARYRaw data and data edited to remove likely errors are provided on the CEH Information Gateway, and it is for the user to make informed judgements concerning analysis and interpretation. For the future, a universal standard will need to be developed and applied in the context of changing methodologies, which determine detection limits and sensitivity. However, informed judgement can only come with the provision of raw data as it is impossible to go back to the original values once the data have been censored and subsequently stored. This article not only flags the database but also includes references to published work and comments on new findings. While we recognize the importance of making data as freely available as possible, this is performed in relation to the institutional copyright for the data and recognition of previously published work. These are critical performance indicators that give value and endorsement to ensure the long-term continuation of major environmental monitoring programmes. We point out the logistical challenge of bringing the information together. This is important to recognize the amount of time that may be needed. We urge ongoing and future research to put data management systems in place that are robust, requiring minimum retrospective modification to cope with the potential loss of background knowledge that may occur when staff leave or research priorities change.
The Regional Aquifer-System Analysis (RASA) Program was started in 1978 following a congressional mandate to develop quantitative appraisals of the major ground-water systems of the United States. The RASA Program represents a systematic effort to study a number of the Nation's most important aquifer systems, which in aggregate underlie much of the country and which represent an important component of the Nation's total water supply. In general, the boundaries of these studies are identified by the hydrologic extent of each system and accordingly transcend the political subdivisions to which investigations have often arbitrarily been limited in the past. The broad objective for each study is to assemble geologic, hydrologic, and geochemical information, to analyze and develop an understanding of the system, and to develop predictive capabilities that will contribute to the effective management of the system. The use of computer simulation is an important element of the RASA studies, both to develop an understanding of the natural, undisturbed hydrologic system and the changes brought about in it by human activities, and to provide a means of predicting the regional effects of future pumping or other stresses.The final interpretive results of the RASA Program are presented in a series of U.S. Geological Survey Professional Papers that describe the geology, hydrology, and geochemistry of each regional aquifer system. Each study within the RASA Program is assigned a single Professional Paper number, and where the volume of interpretive material warrants, separate topical chapters that consider the principal elements of the investigation may be published. The series of RASA interpretive reports begins with Professional Paper 1400 and thereafter will continue in numerical sequence as the interpretive products of subsequent studies become available.
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