GLEC has provided support to U.S. EPA in the construction of guidance to States and Tribes for the development of tiered aquatic life uses. As part of this project, a working group was formed whose function was to identify, discuss and recommend the scientific and programmatic foundation necessary to support a nationally consistent approach for using biological information to establish tiered aquatic life uses and biological criteria in water quality standards, including communication of the information. The workgroup consists of producers and users of biological assessment and criteria information. The workgroup will meet to discuss and evaluate issues and options. The meeting objectives and agenda included addressing both technical and communication issues on setting minimum criteria for establishing reference conditions, defining the relationship between the biological condition in a stream relative to the amount of stress or level of human disturbance, and identifying where in this relationship does the minimum federal standard and biological integrity levels exists. The products from this project will be an outline of a guidance document containing conceptual material and case studies.
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