United States
                   Environmental Protection
                   Agency
                                              Office of Research and
                                              Development
                                              Washington, DC 20460
EPA/620/R-01/001d
August, 2001
 4&EPA  Coastal   Communications
                        NATIONAL  COASTAL ASSESSMENT:
                                   DELAWARE BAY
                        ORD/RE6IONS  2 & 3/OW/DRBC
                                                                            LT2OOQ
                                                      Delaware Bay
                                                      Coastal 2000 Design
Background
The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Assessment (NCA),
referred to as Coastal 2000 during the first year of this
program, is a multi-year partnership among EPA's Office of
Research and Development (ORD), EPA's Office of Water
(OW), EPA's Regional Offices, all coastal states, and
selected territories. As part of this effort, ORD has
developed a coastal monitoring program with the states of
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, EPA Regions 2 <& 3,
and the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). This joint
effort will determine the condition of estuarine waters in
Delaware Bay, and permit comparison to other U.S. coastal
areas. This effort is being coordinated by the ORD National
Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's
Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

National Coastal Assessment Strategy
The National Coastal Assessment 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 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 Delaware Bay. Elements
of the existing Delaware River Basin Commission water quality surveys have been integrated into the NCA
activities.
Water Quality
Dissolved oxygen
Salinity, temperature, depth
PH
Nutrients
Chlorophyll
Sediment Quality
Grain size
Total organic carbon
Sediment chemistry
Benthic community structure
Sediment toxicity
Biota
Benthic community structure
Fish community structure
Fish external pathology
Fish tissue chemical analyses

Further Information
For further information, please contact Darvene Adams at EPA Region 2 at (732) 321-6700 or
adams.darvene@epa.gov: or Catherine Libertz at EPA Region 3 at (215) 814-2737 or libertz.catherine@epa.gov: or
Edward Santoro at the Delaware River Basin Commission at (609) 883-9500 (ext. 268) or
esantoro@drbc.state.nj.us: or Jerry Pesch at the ORD National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's
Atlantic Ecology Division at (401) 782-3007 or pesch.qerald@epa.gov.  Visit the coastal communications web site
at http://www.epa.gov/qed/crc.htm.

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