Water Quality

Importance / Issues

Identified as a top monitoring priority by parks for tracking park ecological health, measuring compliance with federal and state laws and standards, and detecting threats to human health.

Because of the need to meet standards of the Clean Water Act, funding is granted to I&M Networks specifically for water-quality monitoring.

Monitoring Parks :

All Parks

Preliminary Monitoring Objectives

1. Determine trends in physical and chemical characteristics in streams, rivers, springs, and cave pools in NGPN parks
2. Determine trends in macroinvertebrate communities and macroinvertebrate-based indices of water quality in aquatic systems of the NGPN.

Potential Measures

Macro-invertebrate composition,

E. coli levels,

temperature,

flows,

substrate,

woody debris,

turbidity,

conductivity,

dissolved oxygen,

nutrient levels,

pH

Expected Approach

Synoptic monitoring of surface waters using EPA Western Pilot protocol. Continuous monitoring of surface and sub-surface waters using automated data loggers.

Protocol Development & Status

Draft protocol received from Troelstrup.

Being reviewed by I&M Program.

Status & Trends

Status and Trends will be posted once monitoring has begun.

Contact Information

Marcia Wilson
Biological Science Technician
231 East St. Joseph Street
Rapid City, South Dakota 57701
605 341-2803
marcia_wilson@nps.gov