Measuring the Health of the Nation’s Surface Waters

Do U.S. rivers and streams support a healthy biological condition? How are they affected by environmental stressors? What is the condition of our nation’s wetlands and coastal areas? PG Environmental (part of the ERG Group) supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water in answering these questions.

Continuously since 2012, PG Environmental has supported EPA’s National Aquatic Resources Survey (NARS) in monitoring the health of our nation’s water resources. PG provides broad-based technical support for three NARS assessments: the National Rivers and Streams Assessment, National Wetlands Condition Assessment, and National Coastal Condition Assessment. This work includes coordinating the complex logistics involved; mobilizing field teams to conduct sampling activities at hundreds of stream, wetland, and coastal locations across the United States; and coordinating with laboratories to ensure that samples are correctly processed.