National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS) Completed
Knowledge of the characteristics of highway runoff (concentrations and loads of constituents and the physical and chemical processes that produce this runoff) is important for decisionmakers, planners, and highway engineers to assess and mitigate possible adverse impacts of highway runoff on the Nation's receiving waters. This project was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to to provide a catalog of the pertinent information available; to define the necessary documentation to determine if data are valid (useful for intended purposes), current, and technically supportable; and to evaluate available sources in terms of current and foreseeable information needs.
The project was started in 1998 and the final report was published in 2003. The FHWA wanted to determine if guidelines for highway runoff quality are up-to-date and technically supportable, or if additional information was needed to update the guidelines. The FHWA wanted a catalog of existing studies and available data. Information collected was be used to determine if available data were sufficient to characterize pollutant loadings and impacts attributable to highway stormwater runoff around the country.
One of the primary products of this study was the Report FHWA-EP-03-054 "Technical Issues for Monitoring Highway Runoff and Urban Stormwater." This report is a compilation of "expert chapters" designed to address different technical issues for monitoring highway runoff and urban stormwater. These chapters include information about basic information and data quality; quality assurance and quality control practices; measurement of precipitation and runoff low; the geochemistry of runoff; measurement of sediments, trace elements, and organic chemicals in runoff; assessment of the potential ecological effects of runoff; monitoring atmospheric deposition; and interpreting runoff data using appropriate statistical techniques.
Review and analysis of the metadata collected for the National Highway Runoff Data and Methodology Synthesis indicates that much of the available data is not suf?ciently documented for inclusion in a technically defensible regional or national data set. Results of the metadata-review process indicate that few reports document enough of the information and data necessary to establish the quality or representativeness of research results. Also, the number of reports that meet criteria for documentation of project data are substantially diminished when multiple criteria are applied. For example, about 81, 40, and 19 percent of the 252 reports reviewed document efforts to sample water, sediment, or biota, respectively, but only about 8 percent of reports document efforts to evaluate all three sampling matrixes. Furthermore, several technical issues raise doubts about the veracity of existing suspended-sediment, trace-element, and organic-compound data. The fact that a program's data may not meet criteria for regional or national synthesis, however, does not mean that the data are not useful for meeting that program's objectives or that they could not be used for water-quality studies with objectives different from those required for a national synthesis.
National transportation-research organizations need to develop the infrastructure necessary to ensure that environmental research efforts address local information needs and also are useful for regional or national synthesis, especially when Federal funds are applied toward local research needs. It is necessary to establish systematic data-quality objectives, an integrated quality system, and standard protocols for sample collection, processing, analysis, documentation, and publication to ensure that resources expended to meet environmental research needs are used ef?ciently and effectively. To this end, the transportation community can adopt, adapt, and participate in the development and application of standard methods for data-collection, -processing, and -distribution. Integration of Federal, State, and local regulatory, data-collection, and research programs within a system to facilitate information transfer will provide an economy of scale by making research results available to the entire research community. National standards and a technical audit process are necessary, however, to ensure that data in this system meet documentation and data-quality requirements.
This project resulted in the publication of a bibliographic database containing information about 2,600 reports pertinent to highway and urban runoff quality, stormwater mitigation measures (known as structural best management practices (BMPs), and monitoring methods. The project also produced 3 FHWA reports, 15 USGS reports, several pieces of software, and scanned copies of several FHWA water-quality reports that were no longer available to the public at that time.
FHWA Reports
Granato, G.E., Zenone, C., and Cazenas, P.A. (eds.), 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume I --Technical issues for monitoring highway runoff and urban stormwater: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-054, 479 p. Report On-Line.
Granato, G.E., Dionne, S.G., Tana, C.T., and King, T.L., 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume II -- Project documentation: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-055, 22 p. with CD-ROM Report On-Line.
Granato, G.E., 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume III -- Availability and documentation of published information for use in regional or national highway-runoff quality data synthesis: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-056, 71 p. Report On-Line.
USGS Reports are listed under "Publications" tab
Below are publications associated with this project.
Methodology and significance of studies of atmospheric deposition in highway runoff
Data Model and Relational Database Design for Highway Runoff Water-Quality Metadata
A Synopsis of Technical Issues for Monitoring Sediment in Highway and Urban Runoff
A Synopsis of Technical Issues of Concern for Monitoring Trace Elements in Highway and Urban Runoff
Chemical-Help Application for Classification and Identification of Stormwater Constituents
Geographic Information for Analysis of Highway Runoff-Quality Data on a National or Regional Scale in the Conterminous United States
Statistical Approaches to Interpretation of Local, Regional, and National Highway-Runoff and Urban-Stormwater Data
An Overview of the Factors Involved in Evaluating the Geochemical Effects of Highway Runoff on the Environment
Computer Program for Point Location And Calculation of ERror (PLACER)
Principles and Practices for Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Assessing biological effects from highway-runoff constituents
Basic Requirements for Collecting, Documenting, and Reporting Precipitation and Stormwater-Flow Measurements
- Overview
Knowledge of the characteristics of highway runoff (concentrations and loads of constituents and the physical and chemical processes that produce this runoff) is important for decisionmakers, planners, and highway engineers to assess and mitigate possible adverse impacts of highway runoff on the Nation's receiving waters. This project was done by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to to provide a catalog of the pertinent information available; to define the necessary documentation to determine if data are valid (useful for intended purposes), current, and technically supportable; and to evaluate available sources in terms of current and foreseeable information needs.
The project was started in 1998 and the final report was published in 2003. The FHWA wanted to determine if guidelines for highway runoff quality are up-to-date and technically supportable, or if additional information was needed to update the guidelines. The FHWA wanted a catalog of existing studies and available data. Information collected was be used to determine if available data were sufficient to characterize pollutant loadings and impacts attributable to highway stormwater runoff around the country.
One of the primary products of this study was the Report FHWA-EP-03-054 "Technical Issues for Monitoring Highway Runoff and Urban Stormwater." This report is a compilation of "expert chapters" designed to address different technical issues for monitoring highway runoff and urban stormwater. These chapters include information about basic information and data quality; quality assurance and quality control practices; measurement of precipitation and runoff low; the geochemistry of runoff; measurement of sediments, trace elements, and organic chemicals in runoff; assessment of the potential ecological effects of runoff; monitoring atmospheric deposition; and interpreting runoff data using appropriate statistical techniques.
Review and analysis of the metadata collected for the National Highway Runoff Data and Methodology Synthesis indicates that much of the available data is not suf?ciently documented for inclusion in a technically defensible regional or national data set. Results of the metadata-review process indicate that few reports document enough of the information and data necessary to establish the quality or representativeness of research results. Also, the number of reports that meet criteria for documentation of project data are substantially diminished when multiple criteria are applied. For example, about 81, 40, and 19 percent of the 252 reports reviewed document efforts to sample water, sediment, or biota, respectively, but only about 8 percent of reports document efforts to evaluate all three sampling matrixes. Furthermore, several technical issues raise doubts about the veracity of existing suspended-sediment, trace-element, and organic-compound data. The fact that a program's data may not meet criteria for regional or national synthesis, however, does not mean that the data are not useful for meeting that program's objectives or that they could not be used for water-quality studies with objectives different from those required for a national synthesis.
National transportation-research organizations need to develop the infrastructure necessary to ensure that environmental research efforts address local information needs and also are useful for regional or national synthesis, especially when Federal funds are applied toward local research needs. It is necessary to establish systematic data-quality objectives, an integrated quality system, and standard protocols for sample collection, processing, analysis, documentation, and publication to ensure that resources expended to meet environmental research needs are used ef?ciently and effectively. To this end, the transportation community can adopt, adapt, and participate in the development and application of standard methods for data-collection, -processing, and -distribution. Integration of Federal, State, and local regulatory, data-collection, and research programs within a system to facilitate information transfer will provide an economy of scale by making research results available to the entire research community. National standards and a technical audit process are necessary, however, to ensure that data in this system meet documentation and data-quality requirements.
This project resulted in the publication of a bibliographic database containing information about 2,600 reports pertinent to highway and urban runoff quality, stormwater mitigation measures (known as structural best management practices (BMPs), and monitoring methods. The project also produced 3 FHWA reports, 15 USGS reports, several pieces of software, and scanned copies of several FHWA water-quality reports that were no longer available to the public at that time.
FHWA Reports
Granato, G.E., Zenone, C., and Cazenas, P.A. (eds.), 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume I --Technical issues for monitoring highway runoff and urban stormwater: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-054, 479 p. Report On-Line.
Granato, G.E., Dionne, S.G., Tana, C.T., and King, T.L., 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume II -- Project documentation: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-055, 22 p. with CD-ROM Report On-Line.
Granato, G.E., 2003, National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis, Volume III -- Availability and documentation of published information for use in regional or national highway-runoff quality data synthesis: Washington, D.C., U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, FHWA-EP-03-056, 71 p. Report On-Line.
USGS Reports are listed under "Publications" tab
- Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 15Methodology and significance of studies of atmospheric deposition in highway runoff
Atmospheric deposition and the processes that are involved in causing and altering atmospheric deposition in relation to highway surfaces and runoff were evaluated nationwide. Wet deposition is more easily monitored than dry deposition, and data on wet deposition are available for major elements and water properties (constituents affecting acid deposition) from the inter-agency National AtmospheriAuthorsJohn A. Colman, Karen C. Rice, Timothy C. WilloughbyData Model and Relational Database Design for Highway Runoff Water-Quality Metadata
A National highway and urban runoff waterquality metadatabase was developed by the U.S. Geological Survey in cooperation with the Federal Highway Administration as part of the National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS). The database was designed to catalog available literature and to document results of the synthesis in a format that would facilitate current and fAuthorsGregory E. Granato, Steven TesslerA Synopsis of Technical Issues for Monitoring Sediment in Highway and Urban Runoff
Accurate and representative sediment data are critical for assessing the potential effects of highway and urban runoff on receiving waters. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identified sediment as the most widespread pollutant in the Nation's rivers and streams, affecting aquatic habitat, drinking water treatment processes, and recreational uses of rivers, lakes, and estuaries. RepresentatiAuthorsGardner C. Bent, John R. Gray, Kirk P. Smith, G. Douglas GlyssonA Synopsis of Technical Issues of Concern for Monitoring Trace Elements in Highway and Urban Runoff
Trace elements, which are regulated for aquatic life protection, are a primary concern in highway- and urban-runoff studies because stormwater runoff may transport these constituents from the land surface to receiving waters. Many of these trace elements are essential for biological activity and become detrimental only when geologic or anthropogenic sources exceed concentrations beyond ranges typiAuthorsRobert F. Breault, Gregory E. GranatoChemical-Help Application for Classification and Identification of Stormwater Constituents
A computer application called Chemical Help was developed to facilitate review of reports for the National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS). The application provides a tool to quickly find a proper classification for any constituent in the NDAMS review sheets. Chemical Help contents include the name of each water-quality property, constituent, or parameteAuthorsGregory E. Granato, Timothy R. Driskell, Catherine NunesGeographic Information for Analysis of Highway Runoff-Quality Data on a National or Regional Scale in the Conterminous United States
Spatial data are important for interpretation of water-quality information on a regional or national scale. Geographic information systems (GIS) facilitate interpretation and integration of spatial data. The geographic information and data compiled for the conterminous United States during the National Highway Runoff Water-Quality Data and Methodology Synthesis project is described in this documenAuthorsTomas W. Smieszek, Gregory E. GranatoStatistical Approaches to Interpretation of Local, Regional, and National Highway-Runoff and Urban-Stormwater Data
Decision makers need viable methods for the interpretation of local, regional, and national-highway runoff and urban-stormwater data including flows, concentrations and loads of chemical constituents and sediment, potential effects on receiving waters, and the potential effectiveness of various best management practices (BMPs). Valid (useful for intended purposes), current, and technically defensiAuthorsGary D. Tasker, Gregory E. GranatoAn Overview of the Factors Involved in Evaluating the Geochemical Effects of Highway Runoff on the Environment
Materials washed by rain and snowmelt from highways into adjacent surface waters, ground waters, and ecosystems can pollute water and affect biota. To understand the chemical behavior of any one of these materials and its effects on the environment requires knowledge of the chemistry of the material and how it interacts with other components in the local geochemical system. An integrated watershedAuthorsOwen P. BrickerComputer Program for Point Location And Calculation of ERror (PLACER)
A program designed for point location and calculation of error (PLACER) was developed as part of the Quality Assurance Program of the Federal Highway Administration/U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Data and Methodology Synthesis (NDAMS) review process. The program provides a standard method to derive study-site locations from site maps in highwayrunoff, urban-runoff, and other research reporAuthorsGregory E. GranatoPrinciples and Practices for Quality Assurance and Quality Control
Quality assurance and quality control are vital parts of highway runoff water-quality monitoring projects. To be effective, project quality assurance must address all aspects of the project, including project management responsibilities and resources, data quality objectives, sampling and analysis plans, data-collection protocols, data quality-control plans, data-assessment procedures and requiremAuthorsBerwyn E. JonesAssessing biological effects from highway-runoff constituents
Increased emphasis on evaluation of nonpoint-source pollution has intensified the need for techniques that can be used to discern the toxicological effects of complex chemical mixtures. In response, the use of biological assessment techniques is receiving increased regulatory emphasis. When applied with documented habitat assessment and chemical analysis, these techniques can increase our understaAuthorsDenny R. Buckler, Gregory E. GranatoBasic Requirements for Collecting, Documenting, and Reporting Precipitation and Stormwater-Flow Measurements
Accurate and representative precipitation and stormwater-flow data are crucial for use of highway- or urban-runoff study results, either individually or in a regional or national synthesis of stormwater-runoff data. Equally important is information on the level of accuracy and representativeness of this precipitation and stormwaterflow data. Accurate and representative measurements of precipitatioAuthorsPeter E. Church, Gregory E. Granato, David W. Owens