Govenor Heather, Krometis Leigh Anne H, Hession W Cully
Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Seitz Hall Rm. 200, Virginia Tech, 155 Ag Quad Lane, Blacksburg, VA, USA 24061, USA.
Environ Manage. 2017 Oct;60(4):598-614. doi: 10.1007/s00267-017-0907-3. Epub 2017 Jul 1.
Macroinvertebrate community assessment is used in most US states to evaluate stream health under the Clean Water Act. While water quality assessment and impairment determinations are reported to the US Environmental Protection Agency, there is no national summary of biological assessment findings. The objective of this work was to determine the national extent of invertebrate-based impairments and to identify pollutants primarily responsible for those impairments. Evaluation of state data in the US Environmental Protection Agency's Assessment and Total Maximum Daily Load Tracking and Implementation System database revealed considerable differences in reporting approaches and terminologies including differences in if and how states report specific biological assessment findings. Only 15% of waters impaired for aquatic life could be identified as having impairments determined by biological assessments (e.g., invertebrates, fish, periphyton); approximately one-third of these were associated with macroinvertebrate bioassessment. Nearly 650 invertebrate-impaired waters were identified nationwide, and sediment was the most common pollutant in bedded (63%) and suspended (9%) forms. This finding is not unexpected, given previous work on the negative impacts of sediment on aquatic life, and highlights the need to more specifically identify the mechanisms driving sediment impairments in order to design effective remediation plans. It also reinforces the importance of efforts to derive sediment-specific biological indices and numerical sediment quality guidelines. Standardization of state reporting approaches and terminology would significantly increase the potential application of water quality assessment data, reveal national trends, and encourage sharing of best practices to facilitate the attainment of water quality goals.
在美国大多数州，大型无脊椎动物群落评估被用于依据《清洁水法》评估河流健康状况。虽然水质评估和损害判定结果会上报给美国环境保护局，但目前尚无生物评估结果的全国性汇总。这项工作的目的是确定基于无脊椎动物的损害在全国的范围，并找出造成这些损害的主要污染物。对美国环境保护局评估与总最大日负荷跟踪及实施系统数据库中的各州数据进行评估后发现，报告方法和术语存在显著差异，包括各州在是否以及如何报告特定生物评估结果方面的差异。在被判定对水生生物有损害的水域中，只有15%可确定是由生物评估（如无脊椎动物、鱼类、周丛生物）判定存在损害；其中约三分之一与大型无脊椎动物生物评估有关。在全国范围内共识别出近650处受无脊椎动物损害的水域，沉积物是底质（63%）和悬浮物（9%）形式中最常见的污染物。鉴于此前关于沉积物对水生生物负面影响的研究，这一发现并不意外，它突出表明需要更具体地确定导致沉积物损害的机制，以便制定有效的修复计划。这也强化了努力得出针对沉积物的生物指数和沉积物质量数值准则的重要性。各州报告方法和术语的标准化将显著增加水质评估数据的潜在应用，揭示全国性趋势，并鼓励分享最佳实践经验，以促进水质目标的实现。
