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This article is part of the special series "Incorporating Nature-based Solutions to the Built Environment." The series documents the way in which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets can be addressed when nature-based solutions (NBS) are incorporated into the built environment. This series presents cutting-edge environmental research and policy solutions that promote sustainability from the perspective of how the science community contributes to SDG implementation through new technologies, assessment and monitoring methods, management best practices, and scientific research.

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A description of historical and ambient water quality conditions is often required as part of navigational studies. This paper describes a series of tools developed by the USGS that can aid navigation managers in developing water quality assessments. The tools use R, a statistical software program, and provide methods to retrieve historical streamflow and water quality data, summarize observations, model concentrations and fluxes, and estimate seasonal, annual, and decadal trends. The utility of these tools is demonstrated by providing an analysis of the seasonal variability and long-term trends of nitrate plus nitrite, orthophosphate, and suspended sediment concentrations and fluxes at nine sites in the Mississippi River Basin. Trends in annual mean concentration and flux showed fairly stable nitrate plus nitrite at most of the nine sites, with increases in the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and decreases on the Illinois River over a 40-year period beginning in 1980. Orthophosphate concentration or flux increased at almost all sites over a similar time period. Conversely, a concurrent steady decline in suspended sediment concentrations and fluxes was noted at sites throughout the basin.