Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 106 Part 5.djvu/657

 PUBLIC LAW 102-567—OCT. 29, 1992 106 STAT. 4295 "(1) identification and analysis of the status of environmental ^[uality in the Nation's coastal ecosystems, including but not limited to, assessment of— "(A) ambient water quality, including contaminant levels in relation to criteria and standards issued pursuant to title III or the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.); "(B) benthic environmental quality, including analysis of contaminant levels in sediments in relation to criteria and standards issued pursuant to title III of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1311 et seq.); and "(C) health and quality of living resources. "(2) identification of sources of environmental degradation affecting the Nation's coastal ecosystems; "(3) assessment of the impact of governmental programs and management strategies and measures designed to abate or prevent the environmental degradation of the Nation's coastel ecosystems; "(4) assessment of the accumulation of floatables along coastal shorelines; "(5) analysis of expected short-term and long-term trends in the environmental quality of the Nation's coastal ecosystems; and "(6) the development and implementetion of intensive coastal water quality monitoring programs in accordance with subsection (d). (c) MONITORING GUIDELINES AND PROTOCOLS. — "(1) GUIDELINES. —Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this title, the Administrator and the Under Secretary shall jointly issue coastal water quality monitoring guidelines to assist in the development and implementetion of coastel water quality monitoring programs. The guidelines shall— "(A) provide an appropriate degree of uniformity among the coastel water quality monitoring methods and data while preserving the flexibility of monitoring programs to address specific needs; "(B) esteblish scientifically valid monitoring methods that will— "(i) provide simplified methods to survey and . assess the water quality and ecological health of coastel ^ waters; "(ii) identify and quantify through more intensive efforts the severity of existing or anticipated problems in selected coastal waters; "(iii) identify and quantify sources of pollution that cause or contribute to those problems, including point and nonpoint sources; and "(iv) evaluate over time the effectiveness of efforts to reduce or eliminate pollution from those sources; "(C) provide for date compatibility to enable date to be efficientlv stored and shared by various users; and "(D) identify appropriate physical, chemical, and biological indicators of the health and quality of coastal ecosystems. "(2) TECHNICAL PROTOCOLS. —Guidelines issued under paragraph (1) shall include protocols for—

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