Clean Water Act 106 Reporting Requirements Overview

• Overview
• Reporting Requirements
  • Monitoring Strategy
  • Water Quality Assessment Report (WQAR)
  • WQX Data
• Fact Sheets on Water Quality Parameters

Overview

The Guidance on Awards of Grants to Indian Tribes under Section 106 of the Clean Water Act (the Guidance) is intended to help Tribal water quality program managers, staff, and other Tribal environmental decision makers design and implement effective and successful water quality programs. It also establishes procedures and guidelines for EPA regions to consider when awarding and administering grants to federally recognized Tribes.

See also: Revisions to the Final Guidance

Reporting requirements and data management expectations for all Tribal programs are a key component of the Guidance. Tribes are developing Tribal assessment reports that contain information about water quality on Tribal land and demonstrate national results for the Section 106 Tribal program. A Tribal assessment report consists of the following:

1. A description of the monitoring strategy;
2. A water quality assessment (annual requirement); and
3. Water quality monitoring data submitted electronically into EPA's Water Quality Exchange (WQX).

The Guidance is available on EPA's National Clean Water Act Tribal Section 106 program website, and the STORET-compatible Data Template (also referred to as the WQX Web Template) is available along with other resources at the STOrage and RETrieval and Water Quality eXchange and Water Quality Exchange Web Template Files websites.

If you have questions about these materials, please contact your Section 106 Project Officer.

Reporting Requirements

The documents below have been developed by HQ and Region 9 to assist Tribes in completing reporting requirements outlined in the Tribal 106 Guidance, and serve as additional tools for EPA and Tribal staff to use as they implement the Guidance. In addition to the materials on this page, the full guidance text, individual chapters (full color and print friendly), and supplements can be found at the Clean Water Act Section 106 Tribal Guidance website.

1. Monitoring Strategy

• Guidance Supplement: Developing a Tribal Water Quality Program Monitoring Strategy (pdf) (808.62 KB)
• Clean Water Act §106 Water Pollution Control Program Monitoring Strategy Requirement (FY 2008) (pdf) (176.31 KB, 2013)
• Managing the Quality of Environmental Data (Quality Assurance Project Plan Guidance)

2. Water Quality Assessment Report (WQAR)

• Chapter 6 of Clean Water Act Section 106 Tribal Guidance (pdf) (4.12 MB)
• Water Quality Assessment Report Overview
• Region 9 Water Quality Assessment Report
  • Region 9 WQAR Template (xlsx) (500.48 KB, October 2024)
    2024 updates to the report tab expand the number of rows/monitoring stations counted and address an inconsistency in monitoring frequency terminology and calculation.
  • 2011 Interactive WQAR Tutorial (PPSX) (ppsx) (4.98 MB, 2011)
  • EPA Region 9 CWA §106 Water Quality Assessment Report Template Pilot (pdf) (149.82 KB)
    This document describes the purpose of the Water Quality Assessment Report (WQAR) template to provide information on water quality improvement in tribal waters monitored under the CWA 106 Water Pollution Control program in EPA's Region 9.
  • CWA 106 Water Quality Assessment Report Template: User Tutorial for Version 2010 (pdf) (350.76 KB, 2010)
    Tutorial for pilot electronic template, which fulfills one of three parts of annual Water Quality Assessment Reports for tribal water quality programs under CWA 106 Tribal grants program.
  • CWA 106 Water Quality Assessment Report Template (WQAR) Pilot: Frequently Asked Questions (pdf) (137.7 KB, October 2010)
    Contains questions and answers about the Water Quality Assessment Report Template, for the use of tribal water quality programs under Clean Water Act Section 106 Tribal grants program.
• Water Quality Assessment Report (WQAR) Template Webinar Materials

3. WQX Data

• Guidance Supplement: Tribal Data Management for WQX Submission (pdf) (1.17 MB)

Understanding Data Management

• Getting Started with Microsoft Excel: Organizing Your Water Quality Data (pdf) (1.34 MB, 2013)
• How Is Your Field and Lab Data Stored and Managed? (pdf) (86.26 KB, 2013)
• Water Quality Data Submission Tools Comparison (pdf) (26.39 KB, 4/6/2012)
• A Guide to the STORET/WQX Transition (pdf) (44.46 KB, April 2013)
• Roadmap to Data Management (pdf) (132.05 KB, 2013)

Using the STORET/WQX Data Template (Tutorials and User Guide)

• Checking Your Data for Compatibility to STORET/WQX (pdf) (143.78 KB, April 2012)
• Instructions For STORET/WQX Exercises (pdf) (155.54 KB, April 2013)
• STORET/WQX Workshop 2008 Presentations

WQX Web Resources

• User Guide and Upload Resources
• Recorded WQX Web Webinars (YouTube Playlist Links)The following links exit the site
  • WQX Web Webinar 1 (Preparing Your Data and WQX Web Rules)
  • WQX Web Webinar 2 (WQX Web Template and Import Configurations)
  • WQX Web Webinar 3 (Submitting Monitoring Locations/Results and Error Resolution)
• Water Quality Exchange Web Template files
• WQX Nutrient Data Best Practices Guide
• Tribal Water Quality Data Roadmap (Fact Sheet)

Fact Sheets on Water Quality Parameters

Water quality parameter fact sheets have been developed to provide an introduction to monitoring common parameters: Temperature, Dissolved Oxygen, pH, Turbidity, Macroinvertebrates, E. coli and Nutrients.