Assessment of Interstate Streams in The Streams in The Susquehanna River Basin. Monitoring Report No. 16, July 1, 2001, Through June 30, 2002

摘要

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) used a water quality index (WQI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA's) Rapid Bioassessment Protocol III (RBP III) to assess the chemical water quality, biological conditions, and physical habitat of 51 sample sites in the Interstate Streams Water Quality Network from July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2002. Only 25 out of 2,784 parameter observations exceeded water quality standards. Assessment results indicate that approximately 30 percent of the sites supported nonimpaired biological communities. Water quality impacts in the New York-Pennsylvania border streams tend to be mostly from metals, while most Pennsylvania-Maryland border sites have higher nitrogen and nitrate values.