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.

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