• USGS Announces Online Access to Nationwide Fish Community Data
• NAWQA studies mercury in stream ecosystems across the Nation ( USGS Fact Sheet FS-016-03)
• Learn about USGS national water-quality programs
• Effects of Urbanization on Stream Ecosystems U.S. Geological Survey Fact Sheet 042-02 May 2002

• National Academy of Sciences Review
  • Representative Accomplishments of NAWQA, Cycle I
  • Opportunities to Improve the USGS NAWQA Program - A Summary

Each assessment adheres to a nationally consistent study design which allows comparisons among river basins and comprehensive national evaluations of:

• Pesticides
• Nutrients
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Trace elements
• Ecology
• Modeling

Information from the NAWQA program is used by decision makers at all levels—local, state, interstate, and national—to address and prioritize water-resource issues related to:

• Agriculture
• Urbanization
• Chemical use
• Drinking water and human health
• Source water protection
• Pesticide registration
• Nutrient enrichment and criteria
• Fish consumption
• Beneficial uses and impaired waters (TMDL's)

Summary reports, written primarily for decision makers, discuss national findings from individual river basins and aquifers and relate these findings to national assessments.