User Manual and Instructions for Metals Aquatic Life Criteria and Chemistry Map (MetALiCC-MAP)


SEPA

United States
Environmental Protection
Agency

Office of Water
4304T

EPA-822-B-22-001
October 2022

User Manual and Instructions for
Metals Aquatic Life Criteria and Chemistry Map

(MetALiCC-MAP)

October 2022

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Water
Office of Science and Technology
Health and Ecological Criteria Division
Ecological Risk Assessment Branch
Washington, D.C.

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Project Team:

Luis Cruz, Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Health and Ecological Criteria,
Ecological Risk Assessment Branch Division, Washington, DC (Lead)*

Mike Elias, Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Health and Ecological Criteria
Division, Ecological Risk Assessment Branch Division, Washington, DC

Kathryn Gallagher, Branch Chief, Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology, Health and
Ecological Criteria Division, Ecological Risk Assessment Branch Division, Washington, DC

*Please contact Luis Cruz at Cruz.luis@epa.gov for any questions or feedback on this Beta
version tool and user manual

Keywords: Environmental Protection Agency, GIS, ecoregions, aquatic life criteria, water
chemistry, continental United States, surface waters, maps, heat maps, metals

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Contents

Overview 1

GIS Application Instructions 1

Water Chemistry and Aquatic Life Criteria Layers 2

Heat Maps Presenting pH, DOC, and Water Hardness Data 6

Background Information on Data Collection and Processing for Development of the EPA GIS
Tool for Water Chemistry and Aquatic Life Criteria for Metals 9

Data Download 9

Data Cleaning 10

Data Requirements 11

Ecoregions Without Sufficient Data 12

GIS NWIS National Database 12

References 12

Table of Figures

Figure 1. General map displaying Level III Ecoregions and the drop-down menu of "Layers" 2

Figure 2. General map displaying Level III Ecoregions layer and the legend 3

Figure 3. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions and NWIS locations showing water chemistry

10th centile values for the selected location 3

Figure 4. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions water chemistry 10th centile values for the

selected ecoregion 4

Figure 5. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions and NWIS locations with 10th centile aquatic

life criteria values for the selected location 5

Figure 6. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions 10th centile aquatic life criteria values for the

selected ecoregion 5

Figure 7. General map displaying heat maps (pH, DOC, and water Hardness) 6

Figure 8. Map displaying the surface waters pH distribution across the conterminous U.S 7

Figure 9. Map displaying the surface waters DOC distribution across the conterminous U.S 7

Figure 10. Map displaying the surface waters hardness distribution across the

conterminous U.S 8

iii

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User Manual and Instructions for Metals Aquatic Life Criteria and
Chemistry Map (MetALiCC-Map)

May 2022

Overview

This GIS application provides access to an interactive nationwide database to support states,
tribes, and stakeholders with the derivation of bioavailability-based 304(a) freshwater aquatic
life criteria values when site-specific water chemistry data are not available. Specifically, this
map-based application provides access to 1) water chemistry parameter values necessary for
the derivation of bioavailability-based criteria values for metals, 2) aquatic life criteria values
for selected metals (currently copper and aluminum), 3) USGS NWIS water quality monitoring
station locations, and 4) Major National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
discharges for the conterminous United States.

Data used in this application were obtained from the United States Geological Service (USGS)
National Waters Information System (NWIS) and Integrated Compliance Information System
(ICIS) National Pollution Discharges Elimination System (NPDES) facilities databases. The
database includes concurrent measurements of 11 water chemistry parameters from 43,718
samples, collected at 753 NWIS sampling stations distributed across the continental U.S. This
GIS application presents data as selected percentiles (5th, 10th, 20th, 25th) of the measured
water chemistry parameters at different spatial scales (USGS-NWIS station, Ecoregion Level III
and Strahler Stream Order within ecoregions). Water chemistry data were additionally used as
inputs into the National Recommended Copper Aquatic Life Criteria (2007) and National
Recommended Aluminum Aquatic Life Criteria (2018) models to provide access to calculated
criteria values for these chemicals, at the selected percentiles and spatial scales noted above.
All water chemistry values used in the criteria calculations for copper and aluminum were
concurrently measured to ensure representation of actual conditions present in the
environment.

GIS Application Instructions

The GIS application presents data using two primary interfaces:

1)	Map layers with water chemistry parameters and aquatic life criteria displayed at
selected levels of organization (Site specific NWIS station, Level III Ecoregion, and
Strahler Stream Order range within ecoregion),

2)	Heat maps presenting the distribution of pH, DOC and water hardness in the
conterminous U.S.

The following sections describe how to access each data interface.

1

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Water Chemistry and Aquatic Life Criteria Layers.

Users can access maps and information contained within the water chemistry and aquatic life
criteria layers by activating/deactivating each with the click of the mouse. The layers can be
accessed via a dropdown menu appearing under the "Layers" icon at the top of the screen
(Figure 1). Selecting features on a layer will open a pop-up window with associated information
and each layer will have a legend indicating point location and/or ecoregion names (Figures 1
and 2).

. Water Chemistry and Metals Aquatic Life Criteria M...

:= Legend ^ Layers aa Basemap gallery O Details "4" Share 59 Pnnt

0 10th Percentile Water Chemistry by
Station

Q 10th Percentile Water Chemistry by >1
Ecoregion

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Station

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Ecoregion

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Station

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Ecoregion

0 Major NPDES Facilities

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Buffalo

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Figure 1. General map displaying Level III Ecoregions and the drop-down menu of "Layers".

To search for a specific place, type the location name or a zip code in the space near the
magnifying glass. The or "+" buttons to the left of the top screen banner and/or the mouse
scroll wheel can be used to zoom in or out to a specific location of interest in the map.

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ft

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Figure 2. Genera! map displaying Level III Ecoregions layer and the legend.

Activating layers for ecoregions will make all ecoregions visible on the map. After activating a
layer, a user can access more detailed information by clicking on specific ecoregions to show a
pop-up screen containing information for that ecoregion. Upon clicking on an ecoregion the
borders of the ecoregion will highlight. For example, with a water chemistry layer active, users
can point and click on a location and a pop-up screen will open with location information and
water chemistry 10th percentile data. A user can then scroll down within the pop-up screen to
access additional chemistry information and links to data (Figure 3).

+ Water Chemistry and Metals Aquatic Life Criteria M... 1

Cleveland 1 :<,-.*?£i,-

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7'ttsburgh _ o
Harrr.burg

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^ ^v^'ngtgn

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Station

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Ecoregion

UNITED

_ © Springfield

STATES

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Columbus

o Indianapolis

Cincinnati

f~l Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Station

| - ' ° / *\ i '•

Lfj % Flint Mills VI

10th Percentile Water *

[~l Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Ecoregion

(~1 Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Station

~ Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Ecoregion

Q Major NPDES Facilities

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Chemistry

• pH: 7.86 std units

• DOC; 1.16 mg/L

• Hardness: 85.58 mg/L
CaC03

i • Temperature: 8.72 deg. C ®

• Ca: 29.26 mg/L

• Mg: 2.91 mg/L

• Na: 2.12 mg/L

¦Richmond

O Vf,s i Norfolk

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le WEZfr''" '

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• K: 1.13 mg/L

• S04: 7.91 mg/L ~
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Users can similarly click on an ecoregion and a pop-up screen will display water chemistry
information at an ecoregional level. Users can scroll down within the pop-up screen to access
additional information (Figure 4).

- Water Chemistry and Metals Aquatic Life Criteria M...

— — Legend Layers am Basemap gallery t

Q 10th Percentile Water Chemistry by
Ecoregion

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Station

CD Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Ecoregion

D Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Ecoregion

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STATES

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•r of Samples: 1,945

10th Percentile Water
Chemistry

• pH: 6.00 std units

• DOC: 2.69 mg/L
s: 9.66 mg/L CaC03

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Figure 4. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions and NWIS locations. Upon clicking an ecoregion the borders of the ecoregion will
highlight. Pop-up window shows v*/ater chemistry 10th centile values for the selected ecoregion.

Similar to the chemistry layers discussed above, there are layers for National Recommended
Aquatic Life Criteria for aluminum and copper at the site location and Level III Ecoregion levels.
The derived Cu criteria units are reported as dissolved fraction of the metal. The derived Al
criteria are total aluminum. Users can again scroll down within the pop-up screen to access
additional information (Figures 5 and 6).

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. Water Chemistry and Metals Aquatic Life Criteria M...

:= Legend ~ Layers aa Basemap gallery O Details "4" Share © Prtnl

o°^W<

n 10th Percentile Water Chemistry by
Station

Q 10th Percentile Water Chemistry by
Ecoregion

n Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Ecoregion

~ Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Station

P Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Ecoregion

Q Major NPDES Facilities

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STATES

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10th Percentile Aquatic Life
Criteria

• Acute: 9.26 jjg/U

• Chronic: 5.75 pg/L

20th Percentile Aquatic Life
Criteria

• Acute: 9.79 pg/L

• Chronic: 6.08 |jg/L

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Figure 5. Map displaying Level III Ecoregions and NWIS locations. Pop-up window shows 10th centile aquatic life criteria values
for the selected NWIS location.

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Station

Q Aquatic Life Criteria for Copper by
Ecoregion

0 Aquatic Life Criteria for Aluminum by
Ecoregion

iV *

$ •

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percentiles (5th, 20th, 25th) by stream order within ecoregions, and are accessible to download
by clicking on links provided when you scroll down in the pop-up screen.

This application has information on two main features: water chemistry (WC), and aquatic life
criteria (ALC). Each one of these features are further organized into geographical categories: by
NWIS stations, and by Level III ecoregions. In the application there is the capability to activate
different layers, but it is recommended to only simultaneously activate layers for different
geographical categories. For example, the two water chemistry layers can be activated at the
same time since these two layers represent different geographical categories (by station and by
ecoregion), the pop-up windows will display the correct information. Similarly, when searching
the aquatic life criteria layers it is again recommended to only simultaneously activate layers for
different geographical categories (stations and ecoregion).

Heat Maps Presenting pH, DOC, and Water Hardness Data.

Users have access to individual heat maps with information on the distribution of pH, DOC, and
hardness in surface waters of the conterminous U.S. These maps provide a visual
representation of the three water chemistry parameters most important to modifying the
bioavailability (and toxicity) of various metals in the environment and that are the most
important inputs to the multiple linear regression (MLR) model for the derivation of the
aluminium acute and chronic criteria. The heat maps present interpolations of these surface
water parameters measured at NWIS locations across the continental U.S., which provide the
user with information on the range of pH, DOC, and hardness values within their area of
interest.

The maps can be accessed via a dropdown menu appearing under the "Layers" icon at the top
of the screen. Selecting a layer will display the map for a given parameter (pH, DOC or
hardness; Figure 7).

Figure 7. General map displaying heat maps and the drop-down menu of "Layers" (pH, DOC, and water Hardness).

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Selecting an interpolation area on a map opens a pop-up window with the associated
information for that parameter and selected area. Selecting an interpolation area opens a pop-
up window showing the minimum and maximum values for the parameter, and the total area
covered for that parameter in the selected interpolation area. The following figures represent
heat maps for phi (Figure 8), DOC (Figure 9), and water hardness (Figure 10).

Q pH distribution (interpolated) >

~ Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
distribution (interpolated)

Q Water Hardness distribution
(interpolated)

FAO NOAA USGS, EPA

Ooawa Q Montreal

Figure 8. Map displaying the surface waters pH distribution across the conterminous U.S. Pop-up windows shows the minimum,
and maximum pH values in the selected interpolation area. Clicking on an area of interpolation the borders of the area will
highlight.

~
~

Figure 9. Map displaying the surface waters DOC distribution across the conterminous U.S. Pop-up window shows the minimum
and maximum DOC values in the selected interpolation area.

pH distnbution (interpolated)

Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
distribution (interpolated)

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f~~l pH distribution (interpolated)

Q Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC)
distribution (interpolated)

Q Water Hardness distribution >

(interpolated)

Figure 10. Map displaying the surface vjaters hardness distribution across the conterminous U.S. Pop-up window shows the
minimum and maximum water Hardness values in the selected interpolation area.

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Background Information on Data Collection and Processing for
Development of the EPA GIS Tool for Water Chemistry and Aquatic Life
Criteria for Metals

Water chemistry data (pH, DOC, temperature, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium,
chloride, sulfate, alkalinity, and hardness) for samples collected from rivers and streams within
the conterminous United States between January 1,1984, and February 1, 2022 were retrieved
from USGS's NWIS for analysis. Water chemistry parameter concentrations are reported as
dissolved fraction. Data collected prior to 1984 were excluded from analysis because several
analytical methods used prior to that date have been replaced by methods with improved
precision and lower detection limits.

The retrieved data include concurrent measurements of all water chemistry parameters from
43,718 samples, collected at 753 NWIS sampling stations distributed across the continental U.S.
At this time the application only covers the conterminous U.S. Later iterations of the application
are expected to have data from states outside the conterminous U.S. (AK, HI) and territories
(PR, USVI, Guam, Norther Marianas), where sufficient water chemistry data are available. The
spatial coordinates (latitude and longitude) of each sampling station were also retrieved from
NWIS. A geographic information system (GIS) program was used to confirm that the spatial
coordinate data placed each sampling location within the continental United States. GIS was
also used to determine the Level III Ecoregion (Omernik, 1987) for each sampling location, to
assign the corresponding ecoregion and to determine the Strahler stream order (SO) of the 753
NWIS sampling locations. Three stream order ranges were defined: SO 1 - 3 (headwaters and
small streams), SO 4 - 6 (intermediate streams), and 7-10 (large rivers).

The flow chart below illustrates how the downloaded data was screened for quality and
processed prior to inclusion in the final database.

Data Download

For each HUC2
watershed find the USGS
sites with the target
parameter codes

Filter the site information

Verify coordinates

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Data Cleaning

Remove provisional data

Only keep surface water
samples

Remove duplicate rows

Remove unreasonable
values

Replace "<" with
detection limits (to avoid
the use of estimation
methods)

Take average for
multiple samples for the
same site and date

Combine multiple USGS
parameter codes

Regression analysis on DOC and
TOC

Filterthe data based on
sample size requirements

Verify coordinates

Assign ecoregion and
stream order

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Where direct measurements of DOC were not reported, a regression was constructed to
determine DOC based on paired DOC and TOC measurements, to increase the number of NWIS
locations with DOC measures in the database. The number of locations with DOC based on the
developed regression amounted to < 6% of all the locations in the database.

Once all the data were compiled EPA:

1. Checked data to confirm that they contain numerical values without null (missing)
records,

2. Removed zero values from parameters, except for water temperature,

3. Excluded data that were reported as averages for a period greater than one day,

4. Excluded data for samples that were not specifically identified as surface waters (surface
waters samples were defined as streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands),

5. Excluded data from estuaries and coastal open waters,

6. Excluded "provisional" data (remark code P), which according to USGS "have not
received the Director's approval ... and (are) subject to revision",

7. Removed water temperature values greater than 100 degrees C, and

8. Replaced negative values for alkalinity with <0.1 mg/L, consistent with USGS
procedures1 for reporting hydroxide, carbonate, or bicarbonate concentrations.

Data Requirements

Once the data were downloaded and cleaned the resultant database was further processed to
retain data from NWIS locations that met the following requirements:

1. All water chemistry parameters (Temperature, pH, DOC, Ca, Mg, Na, K, S04, CI,
Alkalinity and Hardness) are measured concurrently at each NWIS station,

2. All NWIS stations are located in the continental U.S.,

3. Data are one-day averages when multiple samples are taken from the same station and
date,

4. All stations have data for 3 or 4 meteorological seasons with 2 or more sampled days
per season, and

5. Each NWIS station was sampled 10 or more days.

In addition to the water chemistry parameters identified above, EPA included the following
information in the database: sample date, season, state, EPA Region, ecoregion name, and
location name.

1 National Field Manual, Section 6.6, Alkalinity and Acid Neutralizing Capacity
(https://water.usgs.g0v/owq/FieldManual/Chapter6/section6.6/html/section6.6.htm)

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Ecoregions Without Sufficient Data

A total of 77 Ecoregion Level III areas are represented in the database. There were 8 ecoregions
(9,11, 16, 56, 66, 76, 78, 80) that did not have enough data to fulfill requirements for inclusion.
There are non-concurrent measured water chemistry data available in the NWIS dataset that
were substituted in for these ecoregions. For these ecoregions EPA collected measured water
chemistry parameters values relaxing all data requirements imposed for inclusion in the
database. Non concurrently measured water chemistry parameters values were collected from
all NWIS locations within the aforementioned eight ecoregions. For each parameter, various
percentiles (5th, 10th, 20th and 25th) were calculated and used for representation of each water
chemistry parameter for each of these eight ecoregions.

GIS NWIS National Database

The resulting database includes concurrent measurements of all evaluated water chemistry
parameters for 43,718 samples. Selected percentiles (5th, 10th, 20th, 25th) were derived for each
water chemistry parameter from the concurrently measured data and arrayed into three
categories: Site-specific NWIS stations, Ecoregion level III, and Stream Order range within
ecoregion. The concurrent water chemistry measurements were used as inputs into the
National Recommended Aquatic Life Criteria for copper (2007) and aluminum MLR (2018) to
derive acute and chronic criteria. Selected percentiles (5th, 10th, 20th, 25th) were calculated from
the criteria outputs and arrayed into the three categories listed.

References

U.S. EPA Office of Water (2007). Aquatic Life Ambient Freshwater Quality Criteria - Copper
2007 Revision. EPA 822-R-07-001.

U.S. EPA Office of Water (2018). Final Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria For
Aluminum 2018. EPA-822-R-18-001.

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