NWQP Performance Measure #2: Completed water quality models

As a part of the NAWQA Cycle 3 Science Plan, the NWQP has a goal to develop dynamic models and long-term forecasts of water-quality conditions nationwide. As an intermediate step, development began on regional water-quality models, or “SPARROW” models, that will be used by national, State and local agencies, including the EPA Office of Water, USDA National Resources Conservation Service, and regional entities like the Chesapeake Bay Program and the Mississippi Task Force, to address questions regarding sediment, nutrients, and dissolved solids. The NWQP is developing SPARROW models for nutrients in each of the five large regions of the conterminous U.S.: Midwest, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, and Pacific. The first SPARROW model is planned for completion in 2019 for the Midwest region and the remaining models should be complete by 2022. With each completed model, the water resource managers of that region will be better equipped to understand the impact of various management scenarios, such as land-use, climatic, or agricultural practices, on the water quality of a particular region. This measure tracks the millions of people that will be covered by regional models by 2022.

*The 2022 Goal assumed level funding from FY 2017 through FY 2022.