Water Quality and Watershed Management Support

The Cadmus Water Quality Group is a multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, communications experts, and policy analysts that provide federal, state, and local government agencies with support in the development and implementation of water quality and watershed management projects.

We work closely with our clients to develop innovative, cost-effective, and practical solutions to meet today’s water resource challenges.

Our services include:

Water quality assessments
Watershed management and planning
TMDL development
Water quality modeling and data analysis
GIS-based analyses
Water quality monitoring
Nonpoint source and BMP planning and evaluation
Wetland assessment
Tribal Clean Water Act Support

We also conduct training programs and workshops for water quality professionals, as well as provide research, writing, editing, and production support for education and outreach material (e.g., technical reports, guidance documents, fact sheets, etc.).

Project Example: TMDL Implementation Tracking Needs Assessment

Once a total maximum daily load (TMDL) is approved there is no standardized process for tracking on-the-ground pollution remediation efforts and progress. This severely limits the ability of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states to predict recovery and provide follow-up monitoring, assistance, and support. The EPA Region 5 TMDL Program recently analyzed current watershed restoration performance measures and potential hurdles to identifying future restoration goals and priorities. The results revealed the magnitude of the importance of documenting and tracking TMDL implementation efforts so that TMDL Program results can be more accurately reported and predicted.

The Challenge

EPA needed to assess how states were tracking TMDL implementation and determine what additional assistance the Agency could provide. EPA engaged Cadmus to assess the status of TMDL implementation tracking in nine states: Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin (all in Region 5); Alaska and Washington (Region 10); and New Mexico (Region 6). This important assessment will give EPA and the states a greater understanding of how important tracking and documenting TMDL implementation is to waterbody restoration efforts. Now is the time to begin thinking about how best to track TMDL implementation in order to eventually report on the level of waterbody restoration.

Our Approach

The assessment was conducted through a combination of face-to-face meetings with state TMDL, 303(d), and information systems personnel; conference calls with EPA regional and headquarters staff, and Web-based research. After completing the interviews, Cadmus prepared a final report summarizing the assessment’s results, listing recommendations, and identifying potential next steps.

Our Successes

Cadmus found that TMDL implementation tracking by the nine states ranged from almost none to relatively robust dedicated systems with query and reporting functions and geographic information system capabilities. Most of the nine states do not have a dedicated TMDL implementation tracking system, but, almost all see value in developing and implementing a tracking system. The potential benefits of such a system include a process and indicators to track interim implementation steps and a means of reporting on progress in waterbody restoration to internal and external stakeholders.

Many states are just beginning to implement measures to control point- and nonpoint-pollution sources in order to restore water quality, so now is the ideal time to develop systems to track (at the state, regional or national level) practices to improve water quality. Cadmus’ report to EPA recommends undertaking a pilot tracking system in at least one state or EPA region to gain insight into the challenges to comprehensively tracking TMDL implementation. Cadmus also recommends that EPA work closely with the states to develop a set of key indicators for properly tracking implementation.