WV Stream Condition Index for Wadeble Streams

A STREAM CONDITION INDEX FOR WEST VIRGINIA WADEABLE STREAMS

Prepared for: U.S. EPA Region 3 Environmental Services Division,

and U.S. EPA Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water

Work Assignment Managers:

James Green (Region 3) and William Swietlik (OST)

Prepared by: Tetra Tech, Inc. 10045 Red Run Boulevard Suite 110 Owings Mills, MD 21117

March 28, 2000 (Revised July 21, 2000)

A Stream Condition Index for West Virginia Wadeable Streams

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This report was prepared under 3 work assignments of EPA contract #68-C7-0014 to Tetra Tech, Inc. Authors of this report are Jeroen Gerritsen, June Burton, and Michael T. Barbour. We thank Maggie Passmore and Jim Green of EPA Region 3 for helpful guidance, discussions and review. The biological index was made possible by the intensive data collection efforts and discussion of West Virginia DEP; in particular, Janice Smithson, Jeffrey Bailey, Pat Campbell, and John Wirts. This report was prepared with the assistance of Jeffrey White, Erik Leppo, and Brenda Fowler.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii

LIST OF FIGURES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii

LIST OF TABLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix

1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

2.0 THE APPLICATION OF STREAM BIOASSESSMENT IN WEST VIRGINIA . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

3.0 ESTABLISHING BIOREGIONS AS A BASIS FOR BIOASSESSMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

4.0 TRANSFORMING BIOLOGICAL ATTRIBUTES INTO METRICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

5.0 AGGREGATING METRICS INTO A BIOLOGICAL INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

6.0 TESTING AND REFINING THE INDEX USING INDEPENDENT DATA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

7.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7.1 Rating System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7.2 Refining the index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

7.3 Maintaining the index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

APPENDICES A ANALYTICAL METHODS AND STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A-1

B LITERATURE CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . B-1

C METRICS AND METRIC SCORES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C-1

D SUPPORTING GRAPHS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . D-1

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