National Water-Quality Assessment--Potomac River Basin: Ecological Surveys at Fixed Water-Quality Monitoring Stations, Potomac River Basin Study Unit, National Water-Quality Assessment Program

Abstract

Ecological surveys, which included assessments of habitat and surveys of fish, benthic-macroinvertebrate and algal communities, were conducted in the summer of 1993 at nine locations in the Potomac River Basin, as part of the multidisciplinary approach of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water Quality Assessment (NAWQA) program. The NAWQA program is designed to assess water quality on different geographic and temporal scales by integrating hydrologic and ecological studies.

The study approach is based on dividing the Potomac River Basin into eight subunits on the basis of physiography and geology, which are two major factors that affect water quality. The subunits were further subdivided on the basis of dominant land use. Nine fixed monitoring stations were established in the subunits. A stream reach was selected that was representative of the stream segment where each fixed monitoring station was located. Habitat assessments, fish, benthic-macroinvertebrate and algal community surveys, and detailed water-quality analyses were performed at each stream reach.

Protocols for assessments of habitat and surveys of fish, benthic-macroinvertebrate and algal communities were developed by the U.S. Geological Survey to provide local, regional, and national comparability of the ecological and water-quality data collected by the NAWQA program.

Habitat assessment consisted of fluvial geomorphic characteristics of the floodplain, bank, and channel of each sampling site. Fish communities were surveyed with electrofishing and seining techniques. Weight, total length, and standard length were determined for 30 individuals of each species for a sampling reach.

Citation

Zappia, Humbert, 1994, Ecological surveys at fixed water-quality monitoring stations, Potomac River Basin study unit, National Water-Quality Assessment Program [abs.] : Abstract Booklet, Mid-Atlantic Highlands Area Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Conference, Hershey, Pennsylvania, February 23-25, 1994, p. 42.