Amendment to the Guidelines for the Award of Monitoring Initiative Funds under Section 106 Grants to States, Interstate Agencies, and Tribes

EPA has amended the guidelines that govern the allocation of new funds directed to water quality monitoring that Congress appropriated, beginning in FY 2005, under the section 106 Water Pollution Control grant program. This amendment accelerates the use of state-scale statistical surveys of water quality by incorporating a performance-based standard into the allotment of section 106 Monitoring Initiative funds. Funds will continue to be used for building state water monitoring program capacity according to the original guidelines of March 2006, as long as states make progress in adopting scientifically-valid, state-scale statistical surveys. The section 106 base funds will continue to be allotted in accordance with the applicable allotment formula used by the Agency.

• Guidelines for CWA Section 106 Monitoring Initiative Funds
  This page contains the original 2006 section 106 Monitoring Initiative grant guidelines and the 2008 amendment, along with additional related resources.
• Schedule for Statistically-Valid Surveys of the Nation's Waters (PDF) (1 pg, 50K, About PDF)
  This document lists proposed schedules for a series of collaborative, statistically-valid surveys of the nation's coastal waters, streams, lakes, rivers, and wetlands.
• National Aquatic Resource Surveys
  This page includes links to the various statistically-based surveys of the nation’s waters.