Surface-water quality information in Connecticut : answering key scientific and management questions

Abstract

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the State of Connecticut have worked together since ] 955 to monitor and interpret the water quality of Connecticut's streams and rivers. An expanded cooperative water-quality monitoring program with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) began in 1974, in response to the passage of Connecticut's Clean Water Act in 1967 and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act in 1972. These acts focused on regulation and treatment of municipal and industrial wastes. Consequently, the expanded monitoring program that resulted from these laws has emphasized streams that receive wastewater discharges. Waterquality data generated by this program are used by CTDEP to assess water quality for major rivers and streams, as required under sections 305 (b) and 303 (d) of the Federal Clean Water Act.

Effects of Impervious Cover at Multiple Spatial Scales on Coastal Watershed Streams1

“…Although biological monitoring is currently a popular tool for assessing the biotic integrity of stream habitat (Karr and Chu, 2000), many federal and state agencies still rely on water chemistry data to guide regulatory and land use management decisions (Trench and Kiesman, 1998). Multiparameter water quality indices have been used to serve a variety of functions by providing a simple, objective way of judging and ranking water quality that is more robust than any individual parameter (see review by Ott, 1978).…”