Federal Agency Links

1. Department of Agriculture
2. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
3. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
4. US Geological Survey (USGS)
5. Other Federal Agencies

Department of Agriculture

1. Forest Service: Watershed, Fish, Air, Wildlife & Rare Plants
   Topics include: Watershed Restoration, Water Rights, Water Quality, Hydrology, Riparian, and Wetlands
2. Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS)
   Portal of information for farmers and homeowners on water management, water conservation, soils, watersheds, and related topics.
3. NRCS PLANTS Database
   Standardized information about plant taxonomy, wetland and invasive status. Searchable by state.
4. Water Quality Information Center
   

   Provides electronic access to information on water quality and agriculture. The center collects, organizes, and communicates the scientific findings, educational methodologies, and public policy issues related to water quality and agriculture.

5. Wetlands Reserve Program
   A voluntary program offering landowners the opportunity to protect, restore, and enhance wetlands on their property.
6. NRCS Wetland Science website
   Research on delineation, assessment and restoration; also information on wetland training and technical documents

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 Environmental Protection Agency

1. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency: Region 2
   Region 2 includes New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and the Seven Tribal Nations
2. Large Aquatic Ecosystems Webpage
   Topics include: Rivers and Streams, Watersheds, Wetlands, Lakes, Estuaries, Oceans, and Freshwater and Marine Ecosystems
3. Biological Assessment Webpage
   Information on biological assessment methods and the status of biological assessment programs in the U.S.
4. Clean Water Act
   Summary information about the Clean Water Act, including compliance and enforcement, and history of the act.
5. Elements of a State Water Monitoring and Assessment Program
   Document describing state-based monitoring and assessment methodology.
6. Grants Webpage
   Upcoming EPA grant opportunities.
7. Ground Water and Drinking Water Webpage
   Local drinking water information, ground and surface water sources, emergency preparedness, and drinking water standards and testing.
8. List of Drinking Water Contaminants and Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs)
   National Primary Drinking Water Regulations; Biological and chemical contaminants
9. National Coastal Condition Reports
   Ecological and environmental conditions in U.S. coastal waters.
10. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
    

    The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls water pollution by regulating point sources that discharge pollutants.

11. Nonpoint Source Pollution Homepage
    Information, educational resources, funding opportunities, publications, and meetings.
12. Office of Wastewater Management
    Regulations, state partnerships
13. Office of Water Webpage
    Portal for information on all water-related activites of EPA
14. Online Training in Watershed Management
    Modules on watershed management, analysis and planning, water law, community relations
15. Source Water Protection Publications Database
    Protection methods for source water (untreated water from streams, rivers, lakes, or underground aquifers which is used to supply private wells and public drinking water).
16. Stormwater Program
    EPA controls storm water and sewer overflow discharges through its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System. NPDES provides guidance to municipalities and state and federal permitting authorities on how to meet stormwater pollution control goals as flexibly and cost-effectively as possible.
17. STORET and WQX
    Historical and contemporary water quality data. STORET is a repository of water quality monitoring data collected by water resource management groups across the country. The Water Quality Exchange (WQX) is the framework through which data is submitted to STORET. The Legacy Data Center (LDC) is a static, archived database.
18. Surface Water
    Under the Clean Water Act, the EPA sets and enforces total maximum daily loads for pollutants in assessed water bodies. The Agency also regulates dredging activities and ocean dumping sites and issues permits for stormwater sources.
19. Surf Your Watershed Webpage
    Interactive mapping facility to explore many features of your watershed.
20. Volunteer Monitoring Webpage
    Factsheets, methods, listserves, newsletter, conferences and events, links.
21. Wadeable Streams Assessment
    An ecological assessment of wadeable streams throughout the U.S. Using a stratified, statistically-valid sample survey design that will allow extrapolation of stream condition throughout each ecological region of the U.S, state participants employ a common biologically-based protocol and are following a comprehensive quality assurance program and standardized data management system. It will provide a status report on the condition and health of the wadeable streams of the U.S, help build State capacity for monitoring and assessment, and improve the comparability and integration of State monitoring and assessment methods.
22. Water Efficiency Strategies
    Improving municipal water use efficiency, preventing waste. Information for homeowners can be found on the WaterSense website.
23. Water Pollution Control
    Information on water pollutants, regulatory limits, regulations, and methods to reduce pollution.
24. Water Quality Monitoring
    EPA works with state, local and tribal authorities to carry out nationwide water monitoring projects; links to pages on laboratories, standards, monitoring.
25. Watershed Academy
    Web-based training modules
26. Water Webpage
    Portal for all information about water
27. Watersheds Webpage
    Pages on watershed management.
28. Wetlands Division
    Information and fact sheets, functions and values, protection and permits.

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  National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

1. NOAA Climate Service home page
   portal to data, climate documents, information on floods and droughts, climate change, climate monitoring
2. National Estuarine Research Reserve System
   a network of protected estuarine reas established for long-term research, education and stewardship
3. National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS)
   timely access to global environmental data from satellites and other sources to promote, protect, & enhance the Nation's economy, security, environment, & quality of life.
4. Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
   OCRM is responsible for implementing the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972, as amended (CZMA).Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management homepage

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U.S. Geological Survey

1. USGS – New Jersey Section contact information
   U.S. Geological Survey
   3450 Princeton Pike, Suite 110
   Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
   Phone: (609) 771-3900
   FAX: (609) 771-3915
2. Advisory Committee on Water Information
   An advisory committee of the Water Information Coordination Program, the ACWI represents the interests of water-information users and professionals in advising the Federal Government on Federal water-information programs and their effectiveness in meeting the Nation's water-information needs.
3. Delaware River Study Unit of the NAWQA Program
   home page for information, data, publications
4. NWISWeb Data for the Nation
   Access to data from approximately 1.5 million sites in 50 states; real-time and data archive data for water levels, stream flow, water quality. A tutorial for the National Water Information System Web site (NWISWeb), that includes step-by-step guides for the first-time user of NWISWeb
5. Toxic Substances Hydrology Program
   provides objective scientific information to improve characterization and management of contaminated sites, to protect human and environmental health, and to reduce potential future contamination problems.
6. USGS Geological Survey Library
   access to the catalog of the largest earth science library in the world; USGS documents, data, map and geological archives, and much more
7. Waterwatch
   current water resources conditions
8. Water Resources - New Jersey
   home page for the New Jersey District office, Water Science Center
9. Current Water Resources Projects in New Jersey
10. Long Island-New Jersey Coastal Drainages Study Unit of the NAWQA
    (National Water Quality Assessment) Program – home page for information, data, publications
11. Water Resources for Students and Teachers
12. Water Resources of the United States
    home page for all water-related information at the US Geological Survey
13. StreamStats
    StreamStats is a Web-based tool that allows users to obtain streamflow statistics, drainage-basin characteristics, and other information for user-selected sites on streams.

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Other Federal Agencies

1. National Academy of Sciences - National Academies' Water Information Center
   This portal has more than 100 peer reviewed reports from the National Academies that offer independent, objective advice on many water-related issues in the United States and abroad. The reports represent the consensus of experts from academia, industry, and various levels of government.
2. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
   1. New York District
   2. Philadelphia District
3. U.S. Coast Guard
   1. First District - covers Northern New Jersey and New York
   2. Fifth District - covers Central and Southern Jersey
4. U.S. Federal Energy Management Program
   FEMP helps Federal agencies identify cost-effective water conservation strategies.

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