FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY DOCUMENTATION

TITLE: US EPA STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL (STORET) SYSTEM FOR WATER QUALITY MONITORING IN FLORIDA - JUNE 2019

Geodataset Name:       EPASTORET_JUN19
Geodataset Type:       SDE Feature Class
Geodataset Feature:    Point
Feature Count:         143206
GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
This data set contains locations of and information on water quality monitoring sites that are within EPA's Storage and Retrieval (STORET) System. Water quality monitoring information comes from EPA's STORET System, a repository of physical, chemical and biological monitoring data from state and federal agencies, watershed organizations, volunteer groups and many others. Surface water, Ground water, and Others are general categories for more specific STORET Station Types. Water quality monitoring is a crucial aspect to protecting water resources. State, Tribal, and Federal agencies must monitor lakes, streams, rivers, and other types of water bodies to assist them in determining water quality condition. From these monitoring activities, water quality monitoring data is generated. Without this data, water resource managers cannot know where pollution problems exist, where we need to focus our pollution control energies, or where we've made progress. The STORET Data Warehouse is EPA's repository of the water quality monitoring data collected by water resource management groups across the country. These organizations, including states, tribes, watershed groups, other federal agencies, volunteer groups and universities, submit data to the STORET Warehouse in order to make their data publically accessible. Data can then be re-used for analysis. WQX is the framework by which organizations submit data to the Warehouse. This is an update to the FGDL layer EPASTORET_JUN18.
DATA SOURCE(S):                    U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
SCALE OF ORIGINAL SOURCE MAPS:     Varies
GEODATASET EXTENT:                 State of Florida
PUBLICATION DATE: 20190620 TIME PERIOD OF CONTENT: 20190620 DOWNLOAD LINK: http://www.fgdl.org/metadataexplorer/explorer.jsp

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES:

Datafile Name: EPASTORET_JUN19.DBF
ITEM NAME WIDTH TYPE
OBJECTID
4 OID
Shape
4 Geometry
ID
35 String
STATION
25 String
LOCATION
65 String
AGENCY
20 String
AGENCYNAME
125 String
TYPE
50 String
HUCCODE
10 String
COUNTY
30 String
LAT_DD
8 Double
LONG_DD
8 Double
MGRS
15 String
GOOGLEMAP
100 String
FLAG
5 String
DESCRIPT
125 String
FGDLAQDATE
36 Date
AUTOID
4 Integer

FEATURE ATTRIBUTE TABLES CODES AND VALUES:

Item
Item Description
OBJECTID Internal feature number.

Shape Feature geometry.

ID AGENCY + STATION. A designator used to describe the unique name, number, or code assigned to identify the monitoring location.

STATION Station Code.

LOCATION Description of station location. The designator specified by the sampling organization for the site at which sampling or other activities are conducted.

AGENCY Agency Code. A designator used to uniquely identify a unique business establishment within a context.

AGENCYNAME Agency Name. The legal designator (i.e. formal name) of an organization.

TYPE Station Type. A site type is a generalized location in the hydrologic cycle, or a man-made feature thought to affect the hydrologic conditions measured at a site. Select from a list of site types represented in the source databases. Site types that exist in only one data source are indicated with the database in parentheses. More than one site type may be selected. Multiple site types are listed in the field separated by semicolons.
ESTUARY = Station water monitoring site is of an estuary. A coastal inlet of the sea or ocean; esp. the mouth of a river, where tide water normally mixes with stream water (modified, Webster). Salinity in estuaries typically ranges from 1 to 25 Practical Salinity Units (psu), as compared oceanic values around 35 psu.

FACILITY = Station water monitoring site is of a facility.  A non-ambient location where environmental measurements are expected to be strongly influenced by current or previous activities of humans.

LAKE, RESERVOIR, IMPOUNDMENT = Station water monitoring site is of a lake.  An inland body of standing fresh or saline water that is generally too deep to permit submerged aquatic vegetation to take root across the entire body (cf: wetland). This site type includes an expanded part of a river, a reservoir behind a dam, and a natural or excavated depression containing a water body without surface-water inlet and/or outlet.

LAND = Station water monitoring site is of a land feature.  A location on the surface of the earth that is not normally saturated with water. Land sites are appropriate for sampling vegetation, overland flow of water, or measuring land-surface properties such as temperature. (See also: Wetland).

OCEAN = Station water monitoring site is of an ocean.  Site in the open ocean, gulf, or sea. (See also: Estuary).

RIVER/STREAM = Station water monitoring site is of a river/stream.  A body of running water moving under gravity flow in a defined channel. The channel may be entirely natural, or altered by engineering practices through straightening, dredging, and (or) lining.

SPRING = Station water monitoring site is of a spring.  A location at which the water table intersects the land surface, resulting in a natural flow of groundwater to the surface. Springs may be perennial, intermittent, or ephemeral.

SUBSURFACE = Station water monitoring site is of a subsurface feature.  A location below the land surface, but not a well, soil hole, or excavation.

WELL = Station water monitoring site is of a well.  A hole or shaft constructed in the earth intended to be used to locate, sample, or develop groundwater, oil, gas, or some other subsurface material.

WETLAND = Station water monitoring site is of a wetland.  Land where saturation with water is the dominant factor determining the nature of soil development and the types of plant and animal communities living in the soil and on its surface (Cowardin, December 1979). Wetlands are found from the tundra to the tropics and on every continent except Antarctica. Wetlands are areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas. Wetlands may be forested or unforested, and naturally or artificially created.

OTHER GROUNDWATER = Station water monitoring site is of a Groundwater feature.  A location below the land surface that cannot otherwise be categorized within the other site types.

OTHER SURFACE WATER = Station water monitoring site is of a Surface water feature.  A water body on the land surface that cannot otherwise be categorized within the other site types.


HUCCODE Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) for facility location. The federal code used to identify the hydrologic unit of the monitoring location to the cataloging unit level of precision. Full hydrologic unit codes (HUCs) or partial HUCs using trailing wildcards ("*") may be entered. Only trailing wildcards are accepted. More than one HUC may be entered, separated by semicolons.

COUNTY County Name.

LAT_DD Latitude in decimal degrees.

LONG_DD Longitude in decimal degrees.

MGRS Military Grid Reference System (MGRS) Coordinate of the Facility. The MGRS is the geocoordinate standard used by NATO militaries for locating points on the earth. The MGRS provides a means to represent any location on the surface of the Earth using an alphanumeric string. Hierarchical references are based on the Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system. The MGRS is used for the entire earth. http://mgrs-data.org/

GOOGLEMAP Webpage hyperlink to location in Google Maps.

FLAG Type of update performed by GeoPlan.
G = Longitude value edited

T = Latitude value edited


DESCRIPT Based on the field LOCATION.

FGDLAQDATE The date FGDL acquired the data from the Source.

AUTOID Unique ID added by GeoPlan


USER NOTES:
Locations are tested and reported individually
Completeness of the data set varies for individual features.
GeoPlan relied on the integrity of the attribute information within
the original data.
Water Quality Portal (WQP)
The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is a cooperative service sponsored by the United
States Geological Survey (USGS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
and the National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC).

The Water Quality Data Portal (WQP) provides an easy way to access data 
stored in various large water quality databases. The WQP provides various input 
parameters on the form including location, site, sampling, and date parameters to 
filter and customize the returned results. The WQP can return site information 
(locations where samples were collected), or it can return sample results (analytical
data of collected samples). Any field in the form left blank will cause a search for 
all parameters in that field. For example, if a user selects US and California for the 
country and state respectively, but leaves the county field blank, data will be 
returned for all counties in California. This is also true of the fields under "SITE 
PARAMETERS" and "SAMPLING PARAMETERS".

Equivalent data retrievals can be performed using web services, which have the 
same input parameters and predefined output formats offered through the form. 
For more information and examples on accessing the web services, see the  Web 
Services Guide. Users less familiar with the standard notation used to encode a 
web services request may find the form more convenient. As the form is filled out, 
a URL can be generated by clicking on "Show RESTlike queries" at the bottom 
of the form. This can be used as the URL to access the data through web 
services.

Available Databases

USGS NWIS - Water-resources data collected from approximately 1.5 million sites 
in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, 
American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. NWIS 
is updated every 24 h. Data recently added to NWIS may not be immediately 
accessible through the WQP. Data is available for each location since the 
beginning of the database.

USEPA STORET - A data warehouse for water quality, biological, and physical 
data used by state environmental agencies, EPA, other federal agencies, 
universities, private citizens, and others. STORET is updated weekly on Thursday 
evening. Data recently added to STORET may not be immediately accessible 
through the WQP. The portal will return data from each location since the 
beginning of the database.

https://www.waterqualitydata.us/portal_userguide/

The Storage and Retrieval (STORET) System is used by EPA programs, regions, 
states, and water programs for monitoring water quality.

This data is provided 'as is' and its horizontal positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

This data is provided 'as is' and its vertical positional accuracy
has not been verified by GeoPlan

EPA: None. Please check sources, scale, accuracy, currentness and other 
available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of 
both data and metadata.  While EPA has used its best efforts to include complete 
and accurate information in this system, EPA cannot be held responsible for errors
or omissions and is not liable for any direct, indirect or consequential damages 
resulting from using this information. Reliance on the information contained in this 
system by any party cannot be used as a defense in any administrative or judicial 
proceeding. In such proceedings, the specific language of the relevant regulation 
or statute is binding. Acknowledgement of the EPA would be appreciated.

The Florida Geographic Data Library is a collection of Geospatial Data
compiled by the University of Florida GeoPlan Center with support from
the Florida Department of Transportation. GIS data available in FGDL is
collected from various state, federal, and other agencies (data sources)
who are data stewards, producers, or publishers. The data available in
FGDL may not be the most current version of the data offered by the
data source. University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no guarantees
about the currentness of the data and suggests that data users check
with the data source to see if more recent versions of the data exist.

Furthermore, the GIS data available in the FGDL are provided 'as is'.
The University of Florida GeoPlan Center makes no warranties, guaranties
or representations as to the truth, accuracy or completeness of the data
provided by the data sources. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
makes no representations or warranties about the quality or suitability
of the materials, either expressly or implied, including but not limited
to any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
purpose, or non-infringement. The University of Florida GeoPlan Center
shall not be liable for any damages suffered as a result of using,
modifying, contributing or distributing the materials.

A note about data scale: 

Scale is an important factor in data usage.  Certain scale datasets
are not suitable for some project, analysis, or modeling purposes.
Please be sure you are using the best available data. 

1:24000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
county level.
1:24000 data should NOT be used for high accuracy base mapping such
as property parcel boundaries.
1:100000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
multi-county or regional level.
1:125000 scale datasets are recommended for projects that are at the
regional or state level or larger.

Vector datasets with no defined scale or accuracy should be
considered suspect. Make sure you are familiar with your data
before using it for projects or analysis. Every effort has been
made to supply the user with data documentation. For additional
information, see the References section and the Data Source Contact
section of this documentation. For more information regarding
scale and accuracy, see our webpage at:
http://geoplan.ufl.edu/education.html

REFERENCES:
EPA Water Quality Data Portal
https://www.waterqualitydata.us/

DATA LINEAGE SUMMARY:
GeoPlan Center downloaded the spatial data (.CSV) from the following 
National Water Quality Monitoring Council (NWQMC) Website on 20190624:

EPA Water Quality Data Portal
http://www.waterqualitydata.us/index.jsp

LOCATION:
   Country: US
   State: FLORIDA
SITE PARAMETERS
   Blank
DOWNLOAD:
   EPA STORET only
Download tabular data:
   Comma-separated

Station.csv

The Station.csv had Latitude and Longitude fields in the following projection.
The Add XY Data Tool was used to convert the table to a point layer.

Original Projection
Name: GCS_WGS_1984
Details:
Angular Unit: Degree (0.017453292519943295)
Prime Meridian: Greenwich (0.000000000000000000)
Datum: D_WGS_1984
  Spheroid: WGS_1984
    Semimajor Axis: 6378137.000000000000000000
    Semiminor Axis: 6356752.314245179300000000
    Inverse Flattening: 298.257223563000030000

Next the data was reprojected to Albers NAD83 Harn.
Next point errors located in the ocean were removed.

For a small subset of records, latitude and longitude values
were modified to fix obvious errors. See FLAG field definition
for details. 

Added FLAG field.
Added LAT_DD field.
Added LONG_DD field.
Added MGRS field.
Added GOOGLEMAP field.
Added DESCRIPT field based on FAC_NAME.
Added FGDLAQDATE field.
Process Date: 20190624

Dataset copied. Process Date: 20190707
MAP PROJECTION PARAMETERS:

Projection                          ALBERS
Datum                               HPGN
Units                               METERS
Spheroid                            GRS1980
1st Standard Parallel               24  0  0.000
2nd Standard Parallel               31 30  0.000
Central Meridian                   -84 00  0.000
Latitude of Projection's Origin     24  0  0.000
False Easting (meters)              400000.00000
False Northing (meters)             0.00000

DATA SOURCE CONTACT (S):

Name:
Abbr. Name:
Address:


Phone:

Web site:
E-mail:
Contact Person:
         Phone:
        E-mail:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
EPA
USEPA Mailroom N127-02
Research Triangle Park, NC
27711
(404) 562-9227

https://www.waterqualitydata.us/ becker.jon@epa.gov Jon Becker

FGDL CONTACT:
Name:                   FLORIDA GEOGRAPHIC DATA LIBRARY
Abbr. Name:             FGDL
Address:                Florida Geographic Data Library
                        431 Architecture Building
                        PO Box 115706
                        Gainesville, FL  32611-5706
Web site:               http://www.fgdl.org

Contact FGDL: 

      Technical Support:	        http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfeed.html
      FGDL Frequently Asked Questions:  http://www.fgdl.org/fgdlfaq.html
      FGDL Mailing Lists:		http://www.fgdl.org/fgdl-l.html
      For FGDL Software:                http://www.fgdl.org/software.html