You are here:
DEVELOPING A MULTI-AGENCY 305(B) MONITORING PROGRAM FOR THE COASTAL WATERS OF ALABAMA
Citation:
Summers, J K., J. Carlton, AND S. Heath. DEVELOPING A MULTI-AGENCY 305(B) MONITORING PROGRAM FOR THE COASTAL WATERS OF ALABAMA. In Proceedings, 1998 National Water-Quality Monitoring Conference, Reno, NV, July 07 - 09, 1998. U.S. Department of the Interior, Tuscaloosa, AL, III-595 - III-614, (1998).
Impact/Purpose:
Describe monitoring program
Description:
Proceedings of the National Water Quality Monitoring Conference "Monitoring Critical Foundations to Protect Our Waters," 7-9 July 1998, Reno, NV.
With the ability of many federal agencies to maintain long-term coastal monitoring in jeopardy due to shrinking budgets, many states are beginning to re-examine their coastal and freshwater monitoring programs. This re-examination focuses primarily on the potential to design or re-design programs to attain multiple objectives through multi-agency interactions. This presentation documents the efforts of Alabama resource agencies to incorporate the monitoring activities of several freshwater and coastal state agencies and private industries into a coordinated, comprehensive water quality monitoring program. A key element of the comprehensive monitoring plan includes the use of biological indicators in addition to the traditional physical and chemical variables measured in the past. A key part of this effort involved the interactions between state and federal agencies, their interactions with academic researchers and the public to draw upon as large a knowledge base as possible. The process by which a multi-faceted, multi-objective comprehensive monitoring plan for Alabama waters was developed and implemented is described.
URLs/Downloads:
DEVELOPING A MULTI-AGENCY 305(B) MONITORING PROGRAM FOR THE COASTAL WATERS OF ALABAMA