United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development Washington, DC 20460 EPA/620/R-OO/OOSw March, 2001 4ģEPA Coastal Communications NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT COASTAL 2000 - NEW HAMPSHIRE ORD/RE6ION 1/OW/NH DES Nety Hampshire Coastal 2000 Design Background The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Assessment (also known as Coastal 2000) consists of a multi-year partnership among EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD), EPA's Office of Water (OW), EPA's Regional Offices, all the coastal states, and selected territories. As part of this effort, EPA has developed a coastal monitoring program with EPA Region I and the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NH DES). This joint effort will determine the condition of estuarine waters in New Hampshire, and it will permit comparison of this condition with other U.S. coastal areas. This effort is being coordinated by the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode Island. Coastal 2000 Strategy Coastal 2000 is a strategic partnership between EPA and the coastal states and other federal agencies. Each state uses a compatible probabilistic design and a common set of environmental indicators (see Table below) to independently survey its coastal resources and assess their condition. These estimates can then be aggregated to assess conditions at the EPA Regional, biogeographical, and National levels. All data will be made available for public access on the Internet. The map shows the coastal areas included in the survey and the number of sampling sites intended for estuarine waters of New Hampshire. The Coastal 2000 activities are also being used in the development of the monitoring plan for the New Hampshire Estuaries Project. Water Quality Dissolved oxygen Salinity, temperature, depth PH Nutrients Chlorophyll Sediment Quality Grain size Total organic carbon Sediment chemistry Benthic community structure Sediment tax i city Biota Benthic community structure Fish community structure Fish external pathology Fish tissue chemical analyses Further Information For further information, please contact Natalie Landry at the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services at (603) 271-5329 or nlandry@des.state.nh.us: or Ray Thompson at the EPA New England Regional Laboratory in Region 1 at (781) 860-4372 or thompson.ray@epa.gov: or John Paul at the National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Atlantic Ecology Division at (401) 782-3037 or paul.john@epa.gov. Visit the coastal communications web site at http://www.epa.gov/qed/crc.htm. ------- |