Water-quality assessment of the western Lake Michigan drainages: Analysis of available information on nutrients and suspended sediment, water years 1971-90

In 1986, Congress appropriated funds for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to develop the pilot phase of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program. The long-term goals of this program are to (1) provide a nationally consistent description of current water-quality conditions for a large part of the Nation's water resources; (2) define. long-term trends (or lack of trends) in water quality; and (3) identify, describe, and explain, as possible, the major factors that affect the observed water-quality conditions and trends.

To fulfill the goals of the NAWQA program, the USGS plans to examine 60 areas (study units) across the United States during full implementation of the program. In 1991, the NAWQA program went into full implementation with the intensive investigation of 20 of these study units; one of these study units is the Western Lake Michigan Drainages (WMIC) study unit.