Water Quality Protection Policy and Action Plan - Bernalillo County

Water Quality Protection Policy and Action Planinformation about the quality of water in the Rio Grande; however, the data should beinterpreted carefully. The number, timing, and frequency of samples collected vary dependingon the purpose and goal of the particular agency and the specific monitoring event. In additionto these factors, there are many other variables—such as the sampling method (grab samplefrom the bank, discharge weighted sample, composite samples), parameters analyzed for,analytical methods, and reporting limits—that can make it difficult to compare data collected byvarious agencies.Some considerations for design of an effective monitoring program include: In order to adequately characterize the seasonal variation in the water quality of aparticular reach of a river, samples must be collected in each season throughout theyear.Because water quality conditions of a river may vary during wet conditions versus dryconditions, sufficient samples must be collected during various flow regimes.Stormwater discharge can have substantial effects on water quality of the Rio Grande;therefore, samples must be collected during stormwater runoff events. In order to evaluate temporal trends in water quality conditions, samples must becollected over a sufficiently long period of time.Among the more useful of these programs in establishing ambient water quality conditions ofthe Rio Grande are several investigations conducted by the USGS. In particular, a basin-wideinvestigation of the Rio Grande above Albuquerque conducted from 1992 to 1995 as part of theUSGS NAWQA involved sampling surface water at least monthly at multiple sites near theMRG-A reach of the Rio Grande; these data are useful to characterize ambient water qualityduring various streamflow regimes for multiple points in the watershed upstream from the intaketo the WUA WTP. Data collected during the 1992-95 period were analyzed and presented byAnderholm et al. (1995), Healy (1997), Levings et al. (1998), and Moore and Anderholm (2002)and can be used to characterize ambient conditions during the 1992-95 time period.A recently published USGS report summarizes seasonal and spatial trends in water quality andstreamflow for the portion of the Rio Grande watershed upstream from the MRG-A reach from1985 to 2002 (Langman and Nolan, 2005). In that report, the site closest to the WUA WTPintake is USGS Station Number 08330000, the Rio Grande at Albuquerque, which is located atthe Central Avenue bridge. The period of study included both above-average rainfall conditions(1978 to 1992) and drought conditions (1999 to 2002); therefore, the data set represents a12 Section 2