Bioassessment program

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How Can the Results of a Bioassessment be Used? Bioassessments in Action The Florida Department of Environmental Protection uses bioassessments to assess the effectiveness of point and nonpoint source pollution controls and to evaluate the health of waterbodies.

Bioassessments are currently used in the following DEP programs: Basin-Wide Assessments - to evaluate watershed health Fifth-Year Inspections - to evaluate the discharge of domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plants Forestry Nonpoint Source Program - to evaluate the effectiveness of forestry best management practices BMPs Impaired Waters Determination - streams or rivers with multiple failing SCI or BioRecon scores may be put on the d list if a causative pollutant is identified.

Mitigation Assessments - to evaluate the success of created or restored aquatic ecosystems. Last Modified: September 25, - pm. Sign Up. Evaluating water quality includes field measurements of dissolved oxygen, pH, conductivity and water temperature as well as independent laboratory analysis of water column chemistry.

Describing the physical habitat includes assessing stream channel characteristics such as substrate, bank stability, depth and flow. This is accomplished through the comparisons of probabilistic, reference, targeted and repeat site data and conditions.

This is accomplished by collaborative efforts with the Standards and Monitoring Program through routine assessments, expanded surveys and special investigative projects as designed by the BWQP staff. This is accomplished by performing one or more bioassessments of the site of concern, corroborating WQS, determining the progress of TMDLs and utilizing the results to determine a causal analysis of impairment if present.

This is accomplished by the analysis of field data, independent analytical results of water chemistry, benthic macroinvertebrates and periphyton, and consolidating collected information into reports and presentations for internal and external parties. The NARS are a five-year rotating cycle of aquatic assessments include lakes, rivers and streams, and wetlands. The individual program pages also contain information on the biological assemblages used in bioassessments as well as how bioassessment and biocriteria are used within water quality programs.

This online information database is not a detailed summary of each technical program, but highlights key topics and areas of interest. This online resource will be updated periodically. For additional information or questions, contact Susan Jackson Jackson. Skip to main content.