HOW DO YOU ACCESS THE STORET WATER QUALITY DATA FROM THE EPA?

If you are not aware of what the STORET system is, then you are in for a pleasant surprise. Imagine an enormous database of water quality taken from a variety of multiple sources across the United States and lumped into one database. That's basically what the STORET is. Did I mention it was free too and that you could participate in uploading data to?

The STORET gets the bulk of its information from the LDC, which contains historical water quality data dating back to the early part of the 20th century and collected up to the end of 1998. STORET contains data collected beginning in 1999, along with older data that has been properly documented and migrated from the LDC. Both systems contain raw biological, chemical, and physical data on surface and ground water collected by federal, state and local agencies, Indian Tribes, volunteer groups, academics, and others. All 50 States, territories, and jurisdictions of the U.S. are represented in these systems.

Each sampling result in the LDC and in STORET is accompanied by information on where the sample was taken (latitude, longitude, state, county, Hydrologic Unit Code and a brief site identification), when the sample was gathered, the medium sampled (e.g., water, sediment, fish tissue), and the name of the organization that sponsored the monitoring. In addition, STORET contains information on why the data were gathered; sampling and analytical methods used; the laboratory used to analyze the samples; the quality control checks used when sampling, handling the samples, and analyzing the data; and the personnel responsible for the data.

The main database concepts of STORET follow the business of water quality monitoring. Both the LDC and STORET are web-enabled and available to the public. With a standard web browser, you can browse both systems interactively or create files to be downloaded to your computer.

Anyone with a web browser and internet access can browse and download monitoring data from STORET.

Anyone with a web browser and internet access can browse and download monitoring data from STORET. Simply go to our data download page under the "Obtaining Water Quality Data" sidebar entry and query either of our two online data systems. If you want to query and download data from the LDC or STORET, go to Obtaining Water Quality Data from any of the STORET web pages(http://www.epa.gov/storet/dbtop.html).

With databases like the STORET we can help to safeguard our waters for future generations. In the future, water quality will continue to be an enormous issue, partly because of the tremendous growth of the Nation's population and urban expansion and development. All this growth puts great stress on the natural water resources, and, if we are not diligent, the quality of our waters will suffer.