USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

NAWQA Data Warehouse Home

What’s New? Click here for a list of recent updates

Data subject to change - source data extracted between

6/30/2006 and 7/1/2006. Data available through 9/30/2005.

About the NAWQA Data Warehouse

Get Started Here:

Map Chemical

Concentrations

Data Selection/

Navigation Help

Constituent Finder

View the Glossary

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began its NAWQA (National Water Quality Assessment) program in 1991, 

systematically collecting chemical, biological, and physical water quality data from 42 study units (basins) across the 

nation. The data warehouse currently contains and links the following data up through 9/30/2005:

 Chemical concentrations in water, bed sediment, and aquatic organism tissues for about 2,000 chemical constituents 

 Site, basin, well and network characteristics with many descriptive variables

 Daily stream flow information for fixed sampling sites 

 Ground water levels for sampled wells

 7,600 surface water sites and 8,100 wells

 48,000 nutrient samples and 30,000 pesticide samples as well as 8,800 VOC samples 

 2,600 samples of bed sediment and aquatic organism tissues 

Most of these data came from the USGS National Water Information System--NWIS Water-Quality Data for NAWQA 

sites.

Data available through water Year 2005

NAWQA Data Home

MAP SITES & RESULTS

 Map Chemical Conc.

RETRIEVE DATA

Site Information

 Constituent Finder

 Ground Water

 Surface Water/ Bed 

 Sediment

 Mixed (SW & GW)

Animal Tissue

Daily Stream

 Discharge

 Bio Community

SEARCH SUMMARY 

REPORTS

HELP

Data Retrieval Tips

About NAWQA Data

 Glossary

FAQ

 Contact Us

Other USGS Data

What’s New

NAWQA Program

Home

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

Fact Sheet 2006–3101

August 2006

Data Delivery and Mapping Over the Web

National Water-Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

Printed on recycled paper

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) began its National 

Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991, systematically collecting chemical, biological, and physical waterquality data from study units (basins) across the Nation. In 

1999, the NAWQA Program developed a data warehouse 

(fig. 1) to better facilitate national and regional analysis of 

data from 36 study units started in 1991 and 1994. Data from 

15 study units started in 1997 were added to the warehouse in 

2001. The warehouse currently contains and links the following data:

Chemical concentrations in water, sediment, and 

aquatic-organism tissues and related quality-control 

data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS), 

Biological data for stream-habitat and ecologicalcommunity data on fish, algae, and benthic invertebrates, 

Site, well, and basin information associated with 

thousands of descriptive variables derived from spatial 

analysis, like land use, soil, and population density, 

and

Daily streamflow and temperature information from 

NWIS for selected sampling sites.

The warehouse contains data for about 2,000 water-quality

and biological constituents or properties analyzed in samples 

•

•

•

• collected at about 7,600 surface-water sites and 8,100 wells 

selected to be representative of various land uses. About 

48,000 nutrient samples, 30,000 pesticide samples, and 

8,100 volatile organic compound samples were collected from 

the water column. About 2,600 samples from streambed sediment and animal tissue were collected and analyzed 

for hydrophobic compounds. Most water, sediment, 

and tissue samples were analyzed for more than 

40 different compounds. The biological and ecological data listed above were collected at many of the 

same stream sites. Collectively, these data represent 

about 14 million records in the data warehouse.

Data for environmental samples of water, 

sediment, and tissue, as well as the site and well 

information and daily streamflow and temperature 

data, were made available in 2000 through the 

data warehouse home page (fig. 1). An example 

of a popular retrieval option (using the “MAP 

SITES & RESULTS” application) showing locations of NAWQA Program sites and concentrations 

of selected chemicals is shown in figure 2. Most 

NAWQA data are available through the public 

version of the data warehouse—exceptions include 

the most recent water year’s data, some biological 

data, and some site-, basin-, and well-descriptive 

variables and quality-control data that are available 

by request from individual study units. Figure 1. Data warehouse home page (http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/data).

NAWQA Data Warehouse Mapper

Zoom to:

Predefined Themes Water Quality Background Layers Legend Graph

Keep current extent Export results to:

NAWQA Data Warehouse Layer Legend

Site Type 34910 Mercury, bed sediment smaller than 62.5 microns, well sieved, total digestion, dry weight

GW

Not Detected

0 - 0.050

0.050 - 0.070

0.070 - 0.150

0.150 - 19.000

SW

MS Excel Refresh Map

Back to NAWQA data Home > >

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

Figure 2. Mapping interface example—mercury in streambed sediment.

By Richard W. Bell and Alex K. Williamson

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/data
 Data Warehouse Interface

The NAWQA data warehouse home page includes a variety of options for retrieving data collected at NAWQA Program 

sites, generating location maps and summary graphics, information about program background and design, and guidance pages 

and tutorials for navigating through the data warehouse pages and 

using the applications. Information contained in the data warehouse is accessed using a series of selection windows. To retrieve 

a dataset from the data warehouse and copy the resulting table to a 

local computer, users select from the “RETRIEVE 

DATA” section (fig. 1, left frame): the desired 

medium type, for example Ground Water, Surface Water/Bed Sediment, Mixed, Animal Tissue, 

Daily Stream Discharge, or Bio Community. A 

new viewer window appears that allows the user 

to choose output options; after selecting a type 

of output (such as “Serial (Long) Output”), users 

select their search criteria, such as State, study-unit, 

land-use, laboratory schedule or parameter information (fig. 3). Additional selection criteria are 

available depending on the type of retrieval. After 

the retrieval is completed, users select an export-file 

format.

Results of data retrievals (fig. 4) can be displayed in a variety of table formats depending on 

the needs and choices of the user. Data tables can be 

exported and saved locally in a variety of popular 

formats, including Excel, tab-delimited, and HTML. 

Go

Choose State

(s)

Select values for the following parameters.

count

serial

crosstab-basic

crosstab-expanded

‘Do Not Search by State’

For additional multi-selection help: see “Data

Retrieval Tips” link on the left side of the

homepage

(Use % as a wildcard)

‘Do Not Search by County’

‘Do Not Search by HUC’

‘Do Not Search by Parameter Name’

‘Do Not Search by Water Year’

‘0’

‘NO’

‘Do Not Search by Land-Use’

‘Nutrients - Nitrogen and Phosphorou

‘Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint R

* Indicates required field

Parameters Needed 

Worksheets

SWmaster - crosstab-basic

Choose

County(s)

Enter HUC

Choose Land

Use(s)

Choose Lab

Schedule(s)

Enter

Minimum for

Result Value

Choose

Parameters(s)

Choose water

year(s)

Filter to only

see detects?

Choose

NAWQA Study

Unit(s)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

ANCHOR R AB TWITTER C NR HOMER AK

ANCHOR R AT ANCHOR POINT AK

STARISKI C NR ANCHOR POINT AK

NINOLCHIK R AT NINILCHIK AK

Place Name Land Use

Group

Total

Area in

sq. miles

Sample Medium

Desc

Result Datetime

Primary Schedule Name

Parameter Short Name

Parameter Code

Report Units

Ammonia_wf

00608

mg/L as N

NH3+orgN_wf

00623

mg/L as N

Nutrients - Nitrogen and Phosph

Remark Value Remark Value

Land

Use

Code

OTHER

OTHER

OTHER

OTHER

fo

fo

fo

fo

104.00

226.00

48.40

135.00

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

20-Aug-01 05:20 PM

16-Apr-01 04:00 PM

20-Aug01 12:20 PM

17-Apr-01 03:30 PM

25-Aug-01 02:20 PM

06-Oct-98 05:01 PM

02-Nov-98 01:10 PM

04-Jan-99 05:30PM

01-Mar-99 03-35: PM

.28500

.19700

.36600

.24100

.22600

.20800

.20200

.17500

.17400

.02700

.00300

.01300

.00700

.01500

.05100

.05800

.07400

.05500

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

Figure 3. Example of the search-criteria interface retrieval option.

Figure 4. Example of output using the surface water cross-tabulation retrieval option.

Government officials, consultants, researchers, 

and the public retrieve data from the NAWQA Data 

Warehouse.
 Mapping Concentrations of Chemicals 

 Using Only Your Web Browser

Users can create maps showing the location of sampling 

sites and concentrations of chemical compounds at the sampling sites (fig. 5). The maps can be modified by the user to 

show results from NAWQA study units throughout the United 

States (fig. 2) or the display can be “zoomed in” to focus on 

specific areas of interest (fig. 5). In addition to modifying the 

view of sampling sites, users also can select chemical compounds of interest, type of site, groupings of sites by State, 

USEPA region, and NAWQA study unit (basin), and specify 

“break points” to modify the range of concentrations that are 

displayed. Also, individual sampling sites on the map can be 

selected to show the site name, site identification number, different site characteristics, and results of all the analyses.

Figure 5. Maps showing location of sites where a chemical compound (parameter) was detected, with concentration indicated 

by color of site symbols.

Parameter: MTBE

Media: ground water 

Background: high-resolution map

Parameter: nitrate

Media: surface water

Background: topo map

The NAWQA data 

warehouse includes 

ground-water, surfacewater / bed-sediment, 

and animal-tissue data.

The NAWQA data 

warehouse contains 

pesticide, nutrient, 

VOC, and trace element 

data.

Parameter: dieldrin

Media: bed sediment

Background: elevation map

Parameter: mercury 

Media: animal tissue

Background: land-use map
PLEASE NOTE: Multiple Selection of Search Criteria is available---for example, searching in the 

same query for results from Connecticut AND Virginia. For information about multi-selects, 

check "Data Retrieval Tips" under HELP on the left side of the page.

Other Tips

Export Files: when exporting data to a local computer, tab- or or comma-delimited files generally 

work well for "serial" output and large queries that do not export successfully to Excel. (When 

exporting cross-tab output, use the comma-delimited option to have all site and sample

information repeated on each row of the exported file.) 

User ID or Password prompt: enter JQPUBLIC if asked for either of these items during a retrieval

session. 

Data Limit: query retrievals are limited to 25,000 results. If more results are needed, check "Data

Retrieval Tips" under HELP.

For additional information about the NAWQA study unit and other water resources located in a 

particular State, check study units and local water science centers.

NAWQA Data Home

MAP SITES & 

RESULTS

 Map Chemical Conc.

Daily Discharge

Query for Daily River Discharge values:

Serial (Long) Output

RETRIEVE DATA

Site Information

 Constituent Finder

 Ground Water

 Surface Water/ Bed Sediment

 Mixed (SW & GW)

Animal Tissue

 Daily Stream Discharge

 Bio Community

SEARCH SUMMARY 

REPORTS

HELP

USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

CHEE CREEK NEAR FORT MITCHELL, AL.

CHEE CREEK NEAR FORT MITCHELL, AL.

CHEE CREEK NEAR FORT MITCHELL, AL.

CHEE CREEK NEAR FORT MITCHELL, AL.

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

AHABA RIVER AT CENTREVILLE AL

03130003

03130003

03130003

03130003

03150202

03150202

03150202

03150202

03150202

03150202

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

mx

322.0

322.0

322.0

322.0

1027.0

1027.0

1027.0

1027.0

1027.0

1027.0

26-NOV-1992

09-MAR-1998

08-JUL-1994

04-MAR-2001

09-JAN-1998

23-JAN-1998

07-JAN-1998

07-FEB-2004

05-APR-2000

04-APR-2000

331

68

189

63

9

23

7

38

96

95

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

Discharge

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

00060

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

cfs

18,500.0

16,100.0

18,500.0

12,400.0

18,800.0

12,500.0

21,200.0

15,600.0

22,800.0

34,100.0

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

SURFACE WATER

Place Name

Huc

Total area, sq. mi. Sample Medium

Desc

Date Desc Day Parameter

Short

Name

Parameter

Code

Report

Units

Land Value

Use

Code

Biological community samples (fish, invertebrates, algae) are collected in streams and rivers as

part of ecological studies in the U.S. Geological Survey's National Water-Quality Assessment

(NAWQA) Program. Information from these ecological studies, together with chemical and 

physical data, provide an integrated assessment of water quality at local, regional, and national 

scales. During the program's first decade of operation (1991 - 2001), ecological studies were

conducted to assess the occurrence and distribution of algal, invertebrate, and fish

communities in about 59 study units (Gilliom and others, 1995). In the second decade of the

program (2001 - 2011), biological community samples will be collected at selected sites to

provide long-term trends monitoring. Ecological studies are also part of nationally guided 

studies addressing selected water-quality issues such as the effects of watershed urbanization 

on nutrient enrichment and stream ecosystems.

NAWQA Data Home

MAP SITES & 

RESULTS

 Map Chemical Conc.

Biological Community Samples

Select a data reterival option:

Sample Count

Taxonomic List Fish

Taxonomic List Invert

Taxonomic List Algae

Sample Abundance Fish

Sample Abundance Invert

Sample Abundance Algae Periphyton

Sample Abundance Algae Phytoplankton

RETRIEVE DATA

Site Information

 Constituent Finder

 Ground Water

 Surface Water/ Bed Sediment

 Mixed (SW & GW)

Animal Tissue

 Daily Stream Discharge

 Bio Community

SEARCH SUMMARY 

REPORTS

HELP

USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

 Daily Stream Discharge 

 Information

Users can retrieve stream discharge (mean 

daily values) for NAWQA sites equipped with 

instruments to monitor streamflow (fig. 7). 

Figure 6. Biological community information.

Go

Choose State

(s)

Select values for the following parameters.

‘Do Not Search by State’

For additional multi-selection help: see “Data

Retrieval Tips” link on the left side of the

homepage

(Use % as a wildcard)

‘Do Not Search by County’

‘Do Not Search by HUC’

‘Do Not Search by Parameter Name’

‘Do Not Search by Land-Use’

‘10000’

‘Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint R

* Indicates required field

Parameters Needed 

Choose

County(s)

Enter HUC

Choose Land

Use(s)

Enter

Minimum for Discharge )cfs)

Choose

water year(s)

Choose

NAWQA Study

Unit(s)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

Figure 7. Examples of output table using the daily discharge option.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

Ictaluridae

Ictaluridae

Ictaluridae

Ictaluridae

Ictaluridae

Amiidae

Aphredoderus

Cyrinidae

Cyrinidae

Cyrinidae

Catostomidae

Ameiurus

Ameiurus

Ameiurus

Ameiurus

Ameiurus

Amia

Aphredoderus

Campostoma

Campostoma

Carassious

Catostomus

Ameiurus brunneus

Ameiurus melas

Ameiurus natalis

Ameiurus nebulosus

Ameiurus platycephalus

Amia calva

Aphredoderus sayanus

Campostoma oligolepis

Campostoma pauciradii

Carassious auratus

Catostomus commersoni

Ameiurus brunneus

Ameiurus melas

Ameiurus natalis

Ameiurus nebulosus

Ameiurus platycephalus

Amia calva

Aphredoderus sayanus

Campostoma oligolepis

Campostoma pauciradii

Carassious auratus

Catostomus commersoni

snail bullhead

black bullhead

yellow bullhead

brown bullhead

flat bullhead

bowfin

pirate perch

largescale stoneroller

bluefin stoneroller

goldfish

white sucker

164035

164039

164041

164043

164045

161104

164405

163509

163511

163350

553273

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

NULL

Family Genus Species Subspecies Taxon CommonName ITISTSN

Up 25 Rows Down Rows 1-25 of 102

 Biological Information

Biological community samples (fish, benthic 

invertebrates, algae) are collected in streams and 

rivers as part of ecological 

studies in the NAWQA 

Program. During the 

Program’s first decade of 

operation (1991–2001), 

studies were conducted 

to assess the occurrence 

and distribution of fish, 

invertebrate, and algal 

communities.

The retrievals for 

fish, invertebrate, and 

algal communities include 

sample count, taxonomic list, and sample 

abundance (fig. 6). The 

retrieval process for 

biological-community 

samples is similar to the 

process described in the 

“Data Warehouse Interface” section. Note the 

link to ITIS (Integrated 

Taxonomic Information 

System) reports. 

 
NAWQA Data Home

MAP SITES & 

RESULTS

 Map Chemical Conc.

Constituent Finder Application

RETRIEVE DATA

Site Information

 Constituent Finder

 Ground Water

 Surface Water/ Bed Sediment

 Mixed (SW & GW)

Animal Tissue

 Daily Stream Discharge

 Bio Community

SEARCH SUMMARY 

REPORTS

HELP

USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

Search by Parameter Name:

(i.e. phos) (%=wildcard)

% Atrazine

%

%

Search by Parameter Code:

(i.e. 608) (%=wildcard)

AND/OR

Select a Sampling Schedule:

AND/OR

Limit parameters returned to only those that are sampled more 

than X percent of the time. Enter Percent:

Data Retrieval Tips 

About NAWQA Data 

Glossary 

FAQ 

Contact Us 

Other USGS Data

What's New

NAWQA Program Home

Search All Schedules

0

State Parameter Code Name

ARIZONA 39632 ATRAZINE, WATER, DISSOLVED, RE

Page 1

River Basin

Central Arizona Basins GW AZ - COCHISE 320705110182001

315712110205401

315657110250401

315520110130501

314953110124201

314945110010001

314507110050101

314127110055501

314115110205601

313848110192501

313752110270201

313403110001501

D-15-20 21bda

D-17-20 18bbb

D-17-19 17ddd2

D-17-21 29dca

D-18-21 33bbb

D-18-23 32abc

D-19-22 27acc

D-20-22 16ddb

D-20-20 18ccc

D-20-20 32dcb2

D-21-19 06cc Unsrv

D-21-33aaa

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

0.001

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

<

Site Type Code State and County USGS Station ID Place Name Remrk Value

25 rows per page

WAR EAGLE CREEK NEAR HINDSVILLE, AR

KINGS RIVER NEAR BERRYVILLE, AR

YOCUM CREEK NEAR OAK GROVE, AR

BUFFALO RIVER NEAR BOXLEY, AR

LITTLE BUFFALO RIVER AT MURRAY, AR

SHOP CREEK AT PARTHENON, AR

BUFFALO RIVER NEAR EULA, AR

RICHLAND CREEK NEAR WITTS SPRING, AR

BUFFALO RIVER NEAR ST. JOE, AR

WATER CREEK NEAR ENENING STAR, AR

BIG CREEK NEAR BIG FLAT, ARK.

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

STREAM

263.00

527.00

52.80

57.40

45.20

25.40

603.00

67.00

829.00

38.60

91.60

11010001

11010001

11010001

11010005

NULL

NULL

11010006

11010005

11010005

NULL

11010005

36.2000750000

36.4259916667

36.4539552780

35.9453558330

35.9192450000

35.9525780560

35.9697980560

35.7970227780

35.9831750000

36.0497950000

35.9786847220

-96.8551955560

-93.6231916667

-93.3565725000

-93.4035161110

-93.3212911110

-93.2432336110

-92.8862805560

-92.9287822220

-92.7475527778

-92.5762738890

-92.4815497220

S

1

S

T

T

T

S

S

1

T

T

Place Name SW Site

Type

Desc

Lat Long

Accuracy

Desc

Total area, in sq. mi. Latitude 1983 Longitude 1983 TopoZone Map

Huc

 Site and Chemical Constituent Information

The “Site Information” option on the data warehouse home page provides details about NAWQA sampling sites. In addition to 

site information, several types of maps are available, including topographic maps (fig. 8).

The “Constituent Finder” option on the data warehouse home page allows users to obtain information about specific chemicals that the NAWQA Program has investigated. For example, the Constituent Finder can be used to retrieve information about 

atrazine (fig. 9).

Figure 8. Types of site information retrievals available—table 

and map displaying site information.

Figure 9. Chemical constituent information.
Miscellaneous hints

The area for viewing retrieval information can be expanded; adjust the window as needed. 

Session Expired - click on the "refresh" button on the browser menu bar (and/or open up a new browser session), 

then re-select your query options. 

Query asks for a password - Something overwhelmed the system in your data request. Enter password - JQPUBLIC 

and press Log In button. 

All search criteria that you specify must be true for data to be retrieved. For example, if you specify the following 

criteria for a surface water query: state={Colorado or Nebraska} and NAWQA study Unit={South Platte}, then you 

will retrieve data for all stream sites in Colorado or Nebraska that are part of the South Platte Study. To make the 

query not Study Unit specific, leave Study Unit set to 'Do Not Search by Study Unit'. 

If the search criteria has any items that are false, the results of the query will be "This worksheet doesn't contain 

any data". (For example, state={Iowa} and NAWQA study unit={Southern Florida}). Similarly, if both the "Enter or 

Select Lab Schedule Name" and "Enter or Select Parameter Name" search criteria are used, then results of the 

query will be "This worksheet doesn't contain any data". Be sure that either "Do not search by lab schedule" or "Do 

not search by parameter name" is selected from the appropriate search criterion. Occasionally, after multiple 

queries have been performed using the same browser window, a data retrieval will result in the message "This 

worksheet doesn't contain any data". The "fix" for this situation is re-run the query after having closed all browser 

windows (and then opening a new browser window and re-attaching to the data warehouse.) 

NAWQA Data Home

MAP SITES & 

RESULTS

 Map Chemical Conc.

Retrieval Tips

RETRIEVE DATA

Site Information

 Constituent Finder

 Ground Water

 Surface Water/ Bed 

 Sediment

 Mixed (SW & GW)

Animal Tissue

 Daily Stream Discharge

 Bio Community

SEARCH SUMMARY 

REPORTS

HELP

USGS National Water Quality Assessment Data Warehouse

USGS Home

Contact USGS

Search USGS

Water Quality: Data Retrieval Tips

Biological Community: Data Retrieval Tips

 Online Help

Users can access several 

types of online help to assist in 

creating retrievals and formatting output (fig. 10).

Additional Information about the NAWQA 

 Data Warehouse and NAWQA Program

Information about the data warehouse and direct access to the 

data described in this fact sheet are available at:

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/data

Information about the NAWQA Program is available at:

http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa

Contacts for the NAWQA Data Warehouse: 

Sandy (Alex) K. Williamson, akwill@usgs.gov, Database

Team Leader, Tacoma, WA 

Nate Booth, nlbooth@usgs.gov, Database Developer, Madison, WI 

Rick Bell, rwbell@usgs.gov, Database Testing and Support, 

Albuquerque, NM

Figure 10. Examples of online help options.

Photo

Using Search Criteria

Search criteria are used to specify what data should be retrieved. Most retrievals allow you to specify search 

criteria for several variables (e.g. NAWQA Study Unit, State, and County). In most cases you are asked to select 

the criteria from drop-down lists (e.g. State). In a few cases you are asked to input a value directly (e.g. Huc).

Helpful Hints

• Use Sample Medium to specify the type(s) of samples that you are interested in. This criterion is not 

available for the fish community queries. But it is available for the Sample Count, invertebrate, and algae 

queries

• If you run a retrieval and then decide to run it again, the second retrieval will use the same search criteria 

unless you edit them. For example, if you retrieve data by state and then want to retrieve data by study unit 

you'll need to clear the state selection first. 

• To select multiple items within a drop-down list simply highlight more than one of the choices. This is a 

browser-dependent task. On Windows platforms, holding down the control key and clicking the left mouse 

button allows multiple selections. On some platforms (e.g. Sun), simply clicking the items (without using the 

control key) will select multiple items. 

Question: How do I locate water-quality data for surface-water sites near my home? 

Answer: Select the "Surface Water/Bed Sediment" link under "Retrieve Data" 

 Select an output format from the "Choose a Surface Water Query Output below" drop-down 

 menu, then press "Go" 

 Select the desired State and County options 

 Select the desired lab schedule(s) OR parameters 

 Select additional search criteria as needed Select "Go" at the bottom of the page