David A. Rickert

River Quality Assessment Implications of a Prototype Project

The U.S. Geological Survey recently completed an intensive river quality assessment study of the Willamette River basin, Oregon. The most noteworthy finding was that across-the-board advanced waste treatment was not the answer to the problem of meeting stringent water quality standards established for the Willamette River. This implies that rigid nationwide standards and regulations are likely to result in unneeded expenditures in some river basins and in unachieved standards in others. It was also found that existing water quality data collected under monitoring- and surveillance-type programs are inadequate for defining the critical cause-effect relationships that control river quality problems. Intensive, synoptic surveys keyed to local problems and conditions are required to provide an adequate information base for making key management decisions.

METHODS AND DATA REQUIREMENTS FOR RIVER‐QUALITY ASSESSMENT1

: The U.S. Geological Survey is now (1975) conducting an intensive river-quality assessment of the Willamette River basin, Oregon. The objectives are to (1) define a practical framework for conducting comprehensive river-quality assessments, (2) develop and document methods for evaluating basin-development alternatives in terms of potential impacts on river quality, (3) determine the kinds and amounts of data required to adequately assess various types of river-quality problems, and (4) apply the framework, data, and methods to assess the existing or potential river-quality problems of the Willamette River basin. This paper covers objectives 2, 3, and 4 by examining the rationales behind the selection and application of methods and the design of data programs for assessing specific river-quality problems. The rationales are those developed for assessing (1) the effect of population and industrial growth and resulting waste discharges on river-dissolved oxygen, (2) the potentially harmful effects on land and river quality of accelerated erosion resulting from intensive land-use development, and (3) the potential for nuisance algal growth. The goal of the assessment program and, thus, the context of the rationales is to provide technically sound information that is appropriate and adequate for resource planning and management.