Ohio Watershed Academy 2009

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How Healthy is Your Watershed?

(Module developed by Bob Heitzman, Bob.Heitzman@epa.state.oh.us and Natalie Farber, Natalie.Farber@epa.state.oh.us, Ohio EPA Division of Surface Water)

Learning Objectives

After completion of the module the learner should be able to:

  • Identify your watershed health in reference to the State of Ohio goal of 80% attainment by 2010.
  • Use Ohio regulations to identify, for any water body: designated beneficial uses; applicable numeric water quality criteria; and anti-degradation category.
  • Understand how to identify if a stream is in attainment with designated aquatic life uses, and what information is available about any applicable sources and causes of impairment.

Introduction

Water Quality Standards (WQS) are quantitative endpoints that must be reached to have healthy water resources in a given watershed. Everyone wants a healthy environment, but we may not know what "healthy" means when applied to our particular watershed.

The State of Ohio has established a quantitative water resources health goal of "80% attainment of designated aquatic life uses by 2010." http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/bioassess/AquaticLifeGoal.html

Ohio EPA is the designated Agency responsible for reporting on progress toward this goal to the Governor and to USEPA. Achievement of this goal depends on thousands of decisions made, and actions taken, by local government officials, private industry, and individual landowners. Therefore, a basic understanding of Ohio water quality standards is necessary to connect local watershed decision-making, action planning, and project implementation to achieving and protecting healthy water resources.

This module provides a primer on Ohio’s water quality standards (WQS), with an emphasis on identifying the status of aquatic life use attainment in a particular water body. The WQS are documented in the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC 3745-1) [http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/wqs/index.html] and consist of three main components: a) beneficial use designations, b) numeric water quality criteria, and c) anti-degradation categories. Knowing which water quality standards apply to a particular stream segment in your watershed is a fundamental step in analyzing water resources health. However, by itself, this information will not tell you whether those water quality standards are being met and, if not, why.

Therefore, this module is designed to:

  • Help you find the information you need to determine whether your watershed is healthy, as defined by Ohio WQS;
  • Set the stage for future development of water resource problem statements, goals and objectives, project success criteria, and ultimately water resource project implementation.

Background Readings

Required:

Additional Resources:

  • Ohio EPA. (1993). Understanding Ohio's Surface Water Quality Standards, (particularly the list of significant changes on the third page of the pdf and Chapters 3 and 5). View the document in pdf form here: (UWQS.pdf).
  • Regener, Carla. (2005). "Interpreting Ohio's Water Quality Standards Fact Sheet" (Carla was a former WSA student). View the document in pdf form here: regener.pdf
  • Ohio Administrative Code, Chapter 3745-1: Water Quality Standards (http://www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/rules/3745-1.html).
  • U.S. EPA’s Water Quality Standards (http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/standards/)

Assignments

Assignment EDMA1-1

Last modified: Monday, 23 March 2009, 02:20 PM