The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP) has embarked on a comprehensive survey of great rivers in order to provide the tools the states need to better manage and protect these important national resources.
This survey will assess the health status of the Missouri, Mississippi and Ohio Rivers using indicators of water quality, sediments, algae, plants, insects and fish.
The Ely Field Station is developing indicator tools from the algae collected from hundreds of sites throughout the Great Rivers system. A variety of algal based tools will be developed for use by environmental managers and agencies.