Other Biological Surveys in the Watershed

The Environmental Protection Agency maintains a nation-wide water quality database (STORET) in which it records monitoring data it collects as well as data collected by cooperating organizations, such as the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.  Benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring data for the Lake James Watershed going back to 1983 is available in STORET. Between 1983 and 2007 nearly annual monitoring occurred and was recorded in STORET.  There is no data available for the period 2008 through 2011. The NC Benthic Monitoring Program collected samples on six days in 2012 and recorded the data in STORET. No subsequent monitoring data has been recorded.

A spreadsheet of all the Benthic Monitoring data for the Lake James Watershed that is recorded in STORET is available here.  The data from STORET are generally inadequate to compare with the findings of the LJEA biological survey but the findings of the NC Department of Environmental Quality (previously Department of Environment and Natural Resources – Division of Water Quality) have been presented in the 2010 Catawba River Water Quality Plan and preceding documents.