Determining Appropriate Biological Decision Thresholds: The Meaning of Imperfect Information

1
Water Quality Data Elements (WQE) Workgroup
2
WQDEs Relationship to the Framework
WQDE is a list of core metadata, facilitating
comparability assessments, which tell us

• Who collected and analyzed the data
• What data were collected
• When the data were collected and analyzed
• Where the data were collected
• Why the data were collected
• How the data were collected and analyzed

3
WQDE Workgroup Accomplishments

• A modular approach used to develop Who,
  Where, When, Why WQDE lists for all data
  types, and the What and How WQDE lists for
  Chemistry and Microbiology, adopted by ACWI
• Draft Fact Sheet prepared.
• Biology WQDE workgroup formed lists for field
  biological assessments and toxicity What and
  How distributed for review
• Fostered development of eight pilot projects to
  test implementation concerns
• EPA has developed a draft implementation approach
  and published in Federal Register

4
Biological Data Under Consideration

• Aquatic biological assessment data (e.g., fish,
  algae, macroinvertebrates, plants)
• Organism tissue contaminant data (e.g., clam
  tissue, fish tissue, specific organ contaminant
  data)
• Organism toxicity data (e.g., acute and chronic
  toxicity, Microtox)
• Biomarkers (stress proteins, etc)

5
Biology WQDE Organizations Represented
Federal EPA, FWS, USGS, NOAA Interstate DRBC,
ICPRB State WDNR, OWRB, MACZ, FDEP, NYDH,
ODEQ, CA SWRCB, SJWMD, Ohio Biological
Survey Municipal Denver Metro, Chicago
WRD Other Kenyon College,
Michigan State University, Idexx, Tetra Tech
Total of 37 participants thus far
6
Activities Thus Far

• Compiled Data Elements from 10 databases e.g.,
  STORET, NAWQA, EMAP, EDAS, WDNR, ICPRB
• Evaluated additional element lists from NOAA,
  NASA, FGDC, EPA Envir Data Registry
• Compared Data Element lists with current WQDE
• Who, where, when and why modules from Chem/Micro
  are transferable to biology data

7
Activities Thus Far

• Compared draft biological data elements with
  current STORET requirements
• Drafted Position Paper on Workgroup mission
• Developed first draft of data elements for
  habitat data

8
Who
Where
When
Drives the How and the What
Why
Habitat Elements
What
Toxicity
Chem/Micro
collection of samples covered, in part, in
bioassessment module
Bioassessment
Tissue Contaminants
Some bioassessment field collection methods may
also be useful for organism contaminant data.
Analytical methods may require similar elements
as existing chemical data elements.
9
Where are we going?

• Fully implement modular approach
• Further develop and implement outreach strategies
  to gain general acceptance of WQDEs
• ACWI facilitate member use, conduct survey
• Complete pilot tests and prepare report to
  demonstrate ease of use and advantages of WQDEs
• Developing WQDEs for field and biological methods
• Consider how to respond to EPA data standards
  proposal