United States Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development Washington DC 20460 EPA/620/R-01/001I November, 2001 >&EPA Coastal Communications National Coastal Assessment: South Carolina ORD/SCDNR/SCDHEC/Region 4/OW/NOS 2000J South Carolina NCA 2000/2001 Design South Carolina Background The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Assessment (NCA) 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 EPA Region 4 and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR). This program integrates elements of the South Carolina Estuarine and Coastal Assessment Program (SCECAP), which is jointly administered by the SCDNR and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC). The National Ocean Service (NOS) Charleston Laboratory is also a participant in the joint NCA and SCECAP monitoring program initiatives. This joint effort will determine the condition of estuarine waters in South Carolina and permit comparison to other U.S. coastal areas. The effort is being coordinated by the ORD National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's (Sulf Ecology Division in Sulf Breeze, Florida. 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 2000-2001 survey and the number of sampling sites in estuarine waters of South Carolina. .0 Q 10 10 30 ] 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 Bob Van Dolah at the SCDNR at (843) 762-5048, or vandolahr@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us; or Jim Harvey at the ORD National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Sulf Ecology Division at (850) 934-9237, or harvey.jim@epa.gov. Visit the coastal communications web site at http://www.epa.gov/ged/crc.htm. ------- |