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At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1992

Guidelines for preparing a quality assurance plan for district offices of the U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey has a policy that requires each District office to prepare a Quality Assurance Plan. This plan is a combination of a District's management principles and quality assurance processes. The guidelines presented in this report provide a framework or expanded outline that a District can use to prepare a plan. Parti- cular emphasis is given to a District's: (1) quality assurance policies; (2) organization and staff responsibilities; and (3) program and project planning. The guidelines address the 'how', 'what', and 'who' questions that need to be answered when a District Quality Assurance Plan is prepared.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1999

Principles and Practices for Quality Assurance and Quality Control

Quality assurance and quality control are vital parts of highway runoff water-quality monitoring projects. To be effective, project quality assurance must address all aspects of the project, including project management responsibilities and resources, data quality objectives, sampling and analysis plans, data-collection protocols, data quality-control plans, data-assessment procedures and requirements, and project outputs. Quality control ensures that the data quality objectives are achieved as planned. The historical development and current state of the art of quality assurance and quality control concepts described in this report can be applied to evaluation of data from prior projects.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2014

Quality-assurance and data management plan for groundwater activities by the U.S. Geological Survey in Kansas, 2014

As the Nation’s principle earth-science information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is depended on to collect data of the highest quality. This document is a quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities (GWQAP) of the Kansas Water Science Center. The purpose of this GWQAP is to establish a minimum set of guidelines and practices to be used by the Kansas Water Science Center to ensure quality in groundwater activities. Included within these practices are the assignment of responsibilities for implementing quality-assurance activities in the Kansas Water Science Center and establishment of review procedures needed to ensure the technical quality and reliability of the groundwater products. In addition, this GWQAP is intended to complement quality-assurance plans for surface-water and water-quality activities and similar plans for the Kansas Water Science Center and general project activities throughout the USGS. This document provides the framework for collecting, analyzing, and reporting groundwater data that are quality assured and quality controlled. This GWQAP presents policies directing the collection, processing, analysis, storage, review, and publication of groundwater data. In addition, policies related to organizational responsibilities, training, project planning, and safety are presented. These policies and practices pertain to all groundwater activities conducted by the Kansas Water Science Center, including data-collection programs, interpretive and research projects. This report also includes the data management plan that describes the progression of data management from data collection to archiving and publication.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2013

Quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities, U.S. Geological Survey, Washington Water Science Center

This report documents the standard procedures, policies, and field methods used by the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Washington Water Science Center staff for activities related to the collection, processing, analysis, storage, and publication of groundwater data. This groundwater quality-assurance plan changes through time to accommodate new methods and requirements developed by the Washington Water Science Center and the USGS Office of Groundwater. The plan is based largely on requirements and guidelines provided by the USGS Office of Groundwater, or the USGS Water Mission Area. Regular updates to this plan represent an integral part of the quality-assurance process. Because numerous policy memoranda have been issued by the Office of Groundwater since the previous groundwater quality assurance plan was written, this report is a substantial revision of the previous report, supplants it, and contains significant additional policies not covered in the previous report. This updated plan includes information related to the organization and responsibilities of USGS Washington Water Science Center staff, training, safety, project proposal development, project review procedures, data collection activities, data processing activities, report review procedures, and archiving of field data and interpretative information pertaining to groundwater flow models, borehole aquifer tests, and aquifer tests. Important updates from the previous groundwater quality assurance plan include: (1) procedures for documenting and archiving of groundwater flow models; (2) revisions to procedures and policies for the creation of sites in the Groundwater Site Inventory database; (3) adoption of new water-level forms to be used within the USGS Washington Water Science Center; (4) procedures for future creation of borehole geophysics, surface geophysics, and aquifer-test archives; and (5) use of the USGS Multi Optional Network Key Entry System software for entry of routine water-level data collected as part of long-term water-level monitoring networks.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2008

Field Methods and Quality-Assurance Plan for Quality-of-Water Activities, U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho

Water-quality activities conducted by the staff of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office coincide with the USGS mission of appraising the quantity and quality of the Nation's water resources. The activities are conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Idaho Operations Office. Results of the water-quality investigations are presented in various USGS publications or in refereed scientific journals. The results of the studies are highly regarded, and they are used with confidence by researchers, regulatory and managerial agencies, and interested civic groups. In its broadest sense, quality assurance refers to doing the job right the first time. It includes the functions of planning for products, review and acceptance of the products, and an audit designed to evaluate the system that produces the products. Quality control and quality assurance differ in that quality control ensures that things are done correctly given the 'state-of-the-art' technology, and quality assurance ensures that quality control is maintained within specified limits.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2021

Field methods, quality-assurance, and data management plan for water-quality activities and water-level measurements, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho

Introduction Water-quality activities and water-level measurements conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office coincide with the USGS mission of appraising the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources. The activities are conducted in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho Operations Office. Results of water-quality and hydraulic head investigations are presented in various USGS publications or in refereed scientific journals, and the data are stored in the National Water Information System (NWIS) database. The results of the studies are used by researchers, regulatory and managerial agencies, and civic groups. In its broadest sense, “quality assurance” refers to doing the job right the first time. It includes the functions of planning for products, review and acceptance of the products, and an audit designed to evaluate the system that produces the products. Quality control and quality assurance differ in that quality control ensures that things are done correctly given the “state-of-the-art” technology, and quality assurance ensures that quality control is maintained within specified limits.

Idaho↗
USGS2012

Developing a quality assurance plan for telemetry studies: A necessary management tool for an effective study

Telemetry has been used to answer various questions associated with research, management, and monitoring programs and to monitor animal behavior and population dynamics throughout the world. Many telemetry projects have been developed to study the passage, behavior, and survival of migrating adult and juvenile salmonids at hydroelectric projects on the mainstem Columbia and Snake rivers (Skalski et al. 2001a, 2001b; Skalski et al. 2002; Keefer et al. 2004; Goniea et al. 2006; Plumb et al. 2006). Telemetry based field evaluations of the survival of salmon through hydroelectric projects are costly because of the technology (tags, telemetry systems, infrastructure, etc.) and personnel required to conduct the evaluations. Given the cost of implementing these projects, and the financial and conservation implications of the decisions made from the research results (e.g., forgone electricity production and conservation of threatened and endangered animals), ensuring quality data are collected by documenting all procedures, training, data checks, and that sound protocols and quality assurance and control procedures are in place is paramount. Telemetry studies can pose unique data collection, processing, and analysis challenges. For instance, inferences about entire populations of animals are made from study animals that are captured, held, and tagged at disparate locations. Consequently great care must be taken to ensure that any potential biases that could arise from field procedures must be minimized (Peven et al. 2005). Interrogations of released study animals are remotely conducted by telemetry systems throughout the study area. The continuous recording of telemetry systems can result in large numbers of detections over a short time frame and the potential for false positive detections from records that are weak or erroneous. Thus, there is the potential to generate large data sets (many thousands of lines) that require significant postprocessing. Data reduction can be done using software or programming code within a software package or manually to discern noise from valid data and pull out the pertinent information for analysis. In either case, consistent well-documented procedures need to be in place to ensure quality results and allow for repeatability of study methods.

Book chapter↗
USGS2014

Field methods and quality-assurance plan for water-quality activities and water-level measurements, U.S. Geological Survey, Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho

Water-quality activities and water-level measurements by the personnel of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Project Office coincide with the USGS mission of appraising the quantity and quality of the Nation’s water resources. The activities are carried out in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Idaho Operations Office. Results of the water-quality and hydraulic head investigations are presented in various USGS publications or in refereed scientific journals and the data are stored in the National Water Information System (NWIS) database. The results of the studies are used by researchers, regulatory and managerial agencies, and interested civic groups. In the broadest sense, quality assurance refers to doing the job right the first time. It includes the functions of planning for products, review and acceptance of the products, and an audit designed to evaluate the system that produces the products. Quality control and quality assurance differ in that quality control ensures that things are done correctly given the “state-of-the-art” technology, and quality assurance ensures that quality control is maintained within specified limits.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2018

Quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities, U.S. Geological Survey Dakota Water Science Center

As the Nation’s principal earth-science information agency, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is depended upon to collect accurate data and produce factual and impartial interpretive reports. Methods for data collection and analysis that were developed by the USGS have become standard techniques used by numerous Federal, State, and local agencies and by private enterprises. The USGS has implemented a program designed to ensure that all scientific work done by or for USGS Water Science Centers is done in accordance with a quality-assurance plan. The implementation of a groundwater quality-assurance plan will enhance groundwater data collected by the USGS. This report is a quality-assurance plan for groundwater activities conducted by the USGS Dakota Water Science Center and is meant to complement qualityassurance plans for surface-water and water-quality activities and similar plans for the Dakota Water Science Center and general project activities throughout the USGS.

Open-File Report↗
USGS2018

Data quality from a community-based, water-quality monitoring project in the Yukon River basin

This paper examines the quality of data collected by the Indigenous Observation Network, a community-based water-quality project in the Yukon River Basin of Alaska and Canada. The Indigenous Observation Network relies on community technicians to collect surface-water samples from as many as fifty locations to achieve their goals of monitoring the quality of the Yukon River and major tributaries in the basin and maintaining a long-term record of baseline data against which future changes can be measured. This paper addresses concerns about the accuracy, precision, and reliability of data collected by non-professionals. The Indigenous Observation Network data are examined in the context of a standard data life cycle: plan, collect, assure, and describe; as compared to professional scientific activities. Field and laboratory protocols and procedures of the Indigenous Observation Network are compared to those utilized by professional scientists. The data of the Indigenous Observation Network are statistically compared to those collected by professional scientists through a retrospective analysis of a set of water-quality parameters reported by all three projects over a number of years. No statistical differences were found among the three projects for pH, Calcium, Magnesium, or Alkalinity, although statistically significant differences were found for Sodium, Chloride, Sulfate, and Potassium concentrations. The statistical differences found were small and likely not significant in terms of interpreting the data for a variety of uses. Our results suggest that Indigenous Observation Network data are of high quality, and with consistent protocols and participant training, community based monitoring projects can collect data that are accurate, precise, and reliable.

Alaska, British Columbia, Yukon Territory↗
USGS1993

Quality control and quality assurance plan for bridge channel-stability assessments in Massachusetts

A quality control and quality assurance plan has been implemented as part of the Massachusetts bridge scour and channel-stability assessment program. This program is being conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey, Massachusetts-Rhode Island District, in cooperation with the Massachusetts Highway Department. Project personnel training, data-integrity verification, and new data-management technologies are being utilized in the channel-stability assessment process to improve current data-collection and management techniques. An automated data-collection procedure has been implemented to standardize channel-stability assessments on a regular basis within the State. An object-oriented data structure and new image management tools are used to produce a data base enabling management of multiple data object classes. Data will be reviewed by assessors and data base managers before being merged into a master bridge-scour data base, which includes automated data-verification routines.

Conference Paper↗
USGS2018

Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy

Executive Summary The Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Coordinated Water Resources Monitoring Strategy (CWRMS) provides an overview of the water-quality and ecological monitoring within the Reserve and presents suggestions from stakeholders for future data collection, data management, and coordination among monitoring programs. The South Shore Estuary Reserve, hereafter referred to as the Reserve, is a 173-square-mile network of bays and tributaries shaped by the south shore of Long Island (New York) and the barrier islands that was formed as a result of the last ice age (roughly 18,000 years ago). This overview and coordination document is based on information assembled from a series of meetings, a workshop, and individual correspondences with the CWRMS Project Advisory Committee, which was formed in 2015 to help guide the creation of the document, which reflects the current (2017) status of the Reserve and the need for additional data to address its water-quality issues and ecological health and to respond to a changing climate. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New York State Department of State Office of Planning, Development and Community Infrastructure and the South Shore Estuary Reserve Office, compiled information and recommendations to help stakeholders efficiently evaluate waters currently being monitored and address areas where necessary data are lacking. Water-quality monitoring in the Reserve is ongoing on the Federal, State, and local levels, and coordination among the various programs administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; USGS; Shinnecock Tribal Nation; New York State; Nassau and Suffolk Counties; the Towns of Hempstead, Oyster Bay, Babylon, Islip, Brookhaven, and Southampton; and local universities and nonprofit organizations is necessary to ensure cooperation and efficient use of limited resources. Proper collection and archival of data are critical to the usability of data and methods—a sample of available repositories for monitoring data are provided in this report. Equally important are quality assurances of data and proper techniques of archival such that water and ecological data are collected and analyzed in a consistent manner, regardless of their sources, and that differences in methodologies are identified that might result in discrepancies in the compiled data. Details on monitoring programs, data gaps that are perceived by stakeholders and researchers in the area, and Project Advisory Committee recommendations are provided in this report to promote discussion and coordination. In most cases, resources to fill data gaps are needed, and the use of citizen science volunteers has been shown to help extend programs and provide insight into previously unaddressed areas of concern. This document, in conjunction with the CWRMS website and interactive mapper, is intended to inform the latest iteration of the Comprehensive Management Plan for the Reserve. Moreover, resource managers can use the CWRMS and mapper to identify areas of potential overlap and initiate conversations with stakeholders about addressing needs for additional monitoring of water quality and ecological health in the bays and tributaries of the Reserve.

New York↗
USGS1995

Evaluation of nonpoint-source contamination, Wisconsin; selected streamwater-quality data, land-use and best-management practices inventory, and quality assurance and quality control, water year 1993

The objective of the watershed-management evaluation monitoring program in Wisconsin is to evaluate the effectiveness of the best-management practices (BMPs) for rural streams, urban streams, and urban storm sewers. This report is an annual summary of the data collected for the program and a report of the results from several different special studies conducted within this program. Suspended sediment and total phosphorus storm-load data are summarized for eight rural sites and suspended sediment, total phosphorus, total recoverable lead, total recoverable copper, total recoverable zinc, and total recoverable cadmium storm-load data are summarized for four urban sites. Dissolved-oxygen data is summarized and compared with Wisconsin's waterquality standards for summer 1993 for seven rural sites. The dissolved-oxygen concentrations declined to levels below these standards at least one time at all seven sites during summer 1993. Total-recoverable hardness concentrations were compared with dissolved-hardness concentrations at two urban streams and two urban storm sewers. Least-squared linear regressions resulted in stronger relations for low-flow conditions than for high-flow conditions, indicating that most hardness during low flow is dissolved hardness. Pesticide data are summarized for four urban sites and six rural sites. Herbicides were detected at urban and rural sites; whereas insecticides were detected only at urban sites. A land-use and best-management-practice inventory is ongoing for each evaluation monitoring project to track the different sources of nonpoint pollution in each watershed and to document implementation of best-management programs that may cause changes in water quality of streams. Updated information is gathered each year, mapped, and stored in a geographic-information-system data base. The quality-assurance/quality-control plan for the urban watershed-management evaluation program consisted of a series of blank samples. These blank samples were used to identify and isolate contamination by inorganic and organic components throughout the collection and processing of urban streamwater samples. A dissolved trace-metal contamination problem was identified and resolved by using different laboratory- supplied sample bottles. A special study was done to determine the effect of holding time on fecal coliform colony counts. A linear regression indicated that the mean decrease in colony counts over 72 hours was 8.2 percent per day. Results after 24 hours showed that colony counts increased in some samples and decreased in others.

Wisconsin↗
USGS1987

Plan for the design, development, and implementation, and operation of the National Water Information System

The Water Resources Division of the U.S. Geological Survey is developing a National Water Information System (NWIS) that will integrate and replace its existing water data and information systems of the National Water Data Storage and Retrieval System, National Water Data Exchange, National Water-Use Information, and Water Resources Scientific Information Center programs. It will be a distributed data system operated as part of the Division 's Distributed Information System, which is a network of computers linked together through a national telecommunication network known as GEONET. The NWIS is being developed as a series of prototypes that will be integrated as they are completed to allow the development and implementation of the system in a phased manner. It also is being developed in a distributed manner using personnel who work under the coordination of a central NWIS Project Office. Work on the development of the NWIS began in 1983 and it is scheduled for completion in 1990. This document presents an overall plan for the design, development, implementation, and operation of the system. Detailed discussions are presented on each of these phases of the NWIS life cycle. The planning, quality assurance, and configuration management phases of the life cycle also are discussed. The plan is intended to be a working document for use by NWIS management and participants in its design and development and to assist offices of the Division in planning and preparing for installation and operation of the system. (Author 's abstract)

Open-File Report↗
USGS2008

Documentation of data collection in Currituck Sound, North Carolina and Virginia, 2006-2007

During 2006 and 2007, scientists from Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Estuarine Research Reserve, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey collected hydrologic and water-quality data at nine sites in and around Currituck Sound. Hydrologic and water-quality data were collected at five tributary sites--the Northwest River near Moyock, Tull Creek near Currituck, and Intracoastal Waterway near Coinjock in North Carolina, and the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal near Princess Anne, and the North Landing River near Creeds in Virginia. In addition, data were collected at one site at the mouth of Currituck Sound (Currituck Sound at Point Harbor, North Carolina). Only water-quality data were collected at three sites in Currituck Sound and Back Bay-Currituck Sound near Jarvisburg, and Upper Currituck Sound near Corolla in North Carolina, and Back Bay near Back Bay in Virginia. The hydrologic data included water elevation and velocity, and discharge. The water-quality data included discrete samples and continuous measurements of water temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, and chlorophyll a. The hydrologic and water-quality data collected for this study were quality assured by the U.S. Geological Survey and stored in the National Water Information System database. The data collected for this project are being used to develop an unsteady multidimensional hydrodynamic and water-quality model of Currituck Sound by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The purpose of this model is to provide the basis for planning and the development of best-management practices and restoration projects for Currituck Sound and its tributaries.

North Carolina, Virginia↗
USGS2008

Tamarix as habitat for birds: Implications for riparian restoration in the Southwestern United States

Exotic vegetation has become a major habitat component in many ecosystems around the world, sometimes dramatically changing the vegetation community structure and composition. In the southwestern United States, riparian ecosystems are undergoing major changes in part due to the establishment and spread of the exotic Tamarix (saltcedar, tamarisk). There are concerns about the suitability of Tamarix as habitat for birds. Although Tamarix habitats tend to support fewer species and individuals than native habitats, Arizona Breeding Bird Atlas data and Birds of North America accounts show that 49 species use Tamarix as breeding habitat. Importantly, the relative use of Tamarix and its quality as habitat vary substantially by geographic location and bird species. Few studies have examined how breeding in Tamarix actually affects bird survivorship and productivity; recent research on Southwestern Willow Flycatchers has found no negative effects from breeding in Tamarix habitats. Therefore, the ecological benefits and costs of Tamarix control are difficult to predict and are likely to be species specific and site specific. Given the likelihood that high-quality native riparian vegetation will not develop at all Tamarix control sites, restoration projects that remove Tamarix but do not assure replacement by high-quality native habitat have the potential to reduce the net riparian habitat value for some local or regional bird populations. Therefore, an assessment of potential negative impacts is important in deciding if exotic control should be conducted. In addition, measurable project objectives, appropriate control and restoration techniques, and robust monitoring are all critical to effective restoration planning and execution. ?? 2008 Society for Ecological Restoration International.

Restoration Ecology↗
USGS2023

Sampling and analysis plan for the Koocanusa Reservoir and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water-quality monitoring program, 2021

In 2021, the U.S. Geological Survey will collect water-quality samples and environmental data from 3 sites in Koocanusa Reservoir and from 1 site in the Kootenai River. The transboundary Koocanusa Reservoir is in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northwestern Montana, United States, and was formed with the construction of Libby Dam on the Kootenai River 26 kilometers upstream from Libby, Montana. Two of the reservoir sites and the Kootenai River site, in the Libby Dam tailwater (the outflow of the reservoir flow into the Kootenai River), are equipped with automated, high-frequency ServoSipper water samplers. At the two reservoir sites, these samplers are mounted to pontoon platforms and automatically collect samples from multiple depths; a ServoSipper sampler was deployed at one site in 2019, and another ServoSipper sampler will be deployed at a second site in 2021. Discrete water-quality samples will be collected monthly at two depths at the river site and at two of the reservoir sites. The goal of this project is to collect multidepth, high-frequency vertical and temporal water-quality samples and data to understand the limnological and biological processes that control variations and trends in selenium concentrations and loads throughout Koocanusa Reservoir and in the Libby Dam tailwater at the southern end of the reservoir. This sampling and analysis plan documents the organization, sampling and data-collection scheme and design, pre- and post-collection processes, and quality-assurance and quality-control procedures.

Montana↗
USGS2026

Sampling and analysis plan for the water-quality monitoring program in Lake Koocanusa and upper Kootenai River, Montana, water years 2022–23

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, collected water-quality samples and environmental data in Lake Koocanusa (also known as “Koocanusa Reservoir”), the Kootenai River, and the Tobacco River during water years 2022–23. The transboundary Lake Koocanusa is in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northwestern Montana, United States. It was formed by constructing Libby Dam on the Kootenai River 26 kilometers upstream from Libby, Montana. One of the lake sites and the Kootenai River site, in the Libby Dam tailwater (the outflow of the lake flow into the Kootenai River), were equipped with automated, high-frequency ServoSipper water samplers. At the lake site, these samplers were mounted to pontoon platforms during the summer, and a submersible ServoSipper sipper was deployed with ice buoys during the winter. Samples were automatically collected from multiple depths. At the Kootenai River site, these samplers were housed in the gage house. In water year 2022, discrete water-quality samples were collected every 4–6 weeks, year round, at all four lake sites in the Kootenai River between April and November. In water year 2023, discrete water-quality samples were collected at three lake sites and the Kootenai and Tobacco River sites every 4–6 weeks. The goal of this project was to collect multidepth, high-frequency vertical and temporal water-quality samples and data to understand the limnological and biological processes that control variations and trends in selenium concentrations and loads throughout Lake Koocanusa and in the Libby Dam tailwater at the southern end of the lake. This sampling and analysis plan documents the organization, sampling and data-collection scheme and design, pre- and post-collection processes, and quality-assurance and quality-control procedures of the Koocanusa/Kootenai water-quality monitoring program during water years 2022–23.

Montana↗