National Aquatic Resource Surveys

The U.S. EPA’s Report on the Environment includes the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS), a comprehensive statistical survey and assessment of the condition of the Nation’s lakes, rivers, wetlands, and coastal waters. GLEC has played a key role assisting EPA with the design and execution of each of the NARS assessments since the first survey for the National Lakes Assessment in 2007. For over fifteen years, GLEC contracting support for NARS support has included:

Field crew deployment to over 1,500 surface water sites in all conterminous U.S. ecoregions
Sampling for aquatic community, water quality, human health and associated ecological data
National logistics support and training of contractors, state field crews and trainers
Development of QAPPs, Field Manuals, and quality assurance documents
GIS applications for property research, site maps and survey tracking
Laboratory analysis of algae and algal toxins, periphyton, macroinvertebrate and fish taxonomy
Technical writing, editing, and graphic communications for official EPA publications
Design, assembly, and distribution of specialized field equipment base kits and sampling kits
Oversight of EPA contractor field and laboratory operations