MORETi
STORETis a U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA)
database of ambient environ-
mental data relating to water
quality. The original STORET
was developed in the 1960s, and
today the system continues to serve as EPA's
principal repository for marine, freshwater, and
biological monitoring data. STORETis currently
used by a variety of groups, including federal
agencies, states, tribes, local governments,
academic groups, watershed and volunteer
monitoring organizations, and the public.
What is the 5TORET Data
Warehouse?
The STORET Data Warehouse, available on the
Web at www.epa.gov/5TORET, is an interactive Web-
based tool for searching and downloading STORET
water quality monitoring data. It serves a number of
functions for different users:
• For data providers, it allows a way to retrieve data
they enter.
• For states and other monitoring organizations, it
provides a convenient way to share water quality
information with interested parties over the Web.
• For the public, it provides a tool to get water
quality information for specific locations and
measurements.
The STORET Data Warehouse enables users to
retrieve large volumes of data quickly or pinpoint
specific locations and measurements of interest.
Results data can be retrieved based on geographic
location, Projects, Stations, or Characteristics (things
that are measured and analyzed). The STORET
Data Warehouse can be used to search and download
chemical, physical, biological, and habitat data and
associated metadata. New features, such as the ability
to map data on the Web with EPA tools such as
EnviroMapper for Water and Window to My
Environment, are planned for future enhancements
to the Warehouse.
Why should I use the 5TORET Data
Warehouse?
The Warehouse may be used to:
• Gather data from other organizations in your area
or from around the country.
• Analyze data in a variety of ways, such as looking
for trends in water quality over time.
• Review data you have already submitted.
How do I access the data?
To get to the STORET Warehouse from the
STORET home page, click on Obtaining Water
Quality Data and then choose Download
Modernized STORET Data. From this main page
you will be guided through the selection of data in
a series of steps. First, choose whether you want to
search for Station Descriptions, Regular Results
(nonbiological physical and chemical Results),
Biological Results, or Habitat Results.
Next, select a search by geographic area, Stations,
or Projects you are interested in. Then, define the
time period, and then select the Characteristics that
you want to retrieve. When searching for Biological
Results, you may also choose to define whether
you are interested in tissue data or taxon abundance
data.
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Using the 5TORET Data Warehouse
STORET
The Warehouse will display the
number of records resulting from your
search, and you will have the option
of choosing specific metadata (such as
water depth or collecting gear) to
download with the data file. Your file
is immediately available for download
as a tilde-delimited, flat ASCII text
file. Extensive instructions for all
features of the Warehouse, and defini-
tions of STORET terms, are available
by clicking on Help at the bottom of
each page.
\e there a map interface
for the 5TORET
Warehouse?
Soon you will be able to access data
from the STORET Warehouse by
creating maps using the EPA's Web-based geographic
information system (GIS) tools EnviroMapper for
Water and Window to My Environment. These
mapping tools dynamically display information about
bodies of water in the United States and will allow
you to create customized maps that portray the
nation's surface waters along with a collection of
STORET monitoring data. EnviroMapper and
Window to My Environment may be used to view
environmental information from the national level
down to the community level, and provide the ability
to pan, zoom, and identify map features.
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How can I learn more about the
STORET Pata Warehouse?
For more information, visit the
STORET Web site,
www.epa.gov/5TORET, or contact
the EPA STORET assistance
hotline at 1-800-424-9067, or
at STORET@epa.gov.
Electronic copies of this document along with many
others are available online atwww.epa.gov/STORET
STORET Data Warehouse
Query Options
STORET Station Descriptions
Stations by Geographic Location
STORET Regular Results
(Non-Biological Physical and Chemical Result Data)
Regular Results by Geographic Location
Regular Results bu Station
Regular Results by Project
STORET Biological Results
Biological Results by Geographic Location
Biological Results by Station
Biological Results by Project
STORET Habitat Results
Habitat Results by Geographic Location
Hahitat Results by Station
Habitat Results by Project
DATA LOGGER RESULTS
Download a delimited text file of results
reported to STORET from Automated Data
Loggers. These results, which cannot yet
be downloaded via the query options at
the left, will be in the form o( a self-
extracting compressed file (45QK) which
may be saved on disk and will expand
when executed. In its uncompressed
form, this file requires 14.8 MB of disk
space.
DATA QUALITY DOCllllENTflTlON
Select from among available reports which
document the standards, methods,
practices and other metadata supplied by
data owners lo dceumenl the quality of
the monitoring results found in the
National STORET Data Warehouse.
Using your downloaded text file
After you click on Download your data now, from
the File menu choose Save As and save the file as
.txt on your computer. Follow these steps to open
the file in Microsoft Excel:
1. Open a new Excel worksheet.
2. From the File menu choose Open.
3. Use the Files of type drop-down menu to
choose All Files, then navigate to and select
your file.
4. The Text Import Wizard will guide you
through the remaining steps:
• Choose Delimited, then click Next.
• Choose Other and enter a tilde [~] in the
box, then click Next.
• If you wish, specify Data Format for any or
all fields, and click Finish.
EPA841-F-03-012d, February 2004
US EPA, MC 4503T, Washington, DC 20460
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