Ohio EPA Biological Monitoring

This page provides access to biological results of Ohio EPA stream monitoring.  To view results for an Ohio EPA study area, select a project from the above dropdown list.  Stream monitoring sites will then draw on the map. Use the map navigation buttons to control the map display after the sites are loaded.

Aquatic Life Use Attainment Status:

	Full
	Partial
	Non

Attainment status represents the degree to which a stream is meeting the criteria of its aquatic-life beneficial use.  Ohio law designates an aquatic-life beneficial use to individual streams, and the designation represents the expected biological heath of the waterway.  Examples of aquatic-life beneficial uses are Warmwater Habitat, Exceptional Warmwater Habitat, and Modified Warmwater Habitat.

Ohio law specifies numeric biological criteria for each aquatic-life beneficial use.  The biological criteria is measured by three indices: the Index of Biological Integrity (IBI), the Modified Index of Well Being (MIWB), and the Invertebrate Community Index (ICI).  Each of these indices measures a specific aspect of a stream's biological community through an evaluation of the diversity and abundance of various aquatic organisms.  Index scores are determined in the field by an experience evaluator.

Attainment status is defined generally by the following:

• Full:  All three of the field-measured biological index scores meet the biological criteria of the site.
  
  
• Partial:  One index score is below the applicable biological criteria, but it is not categorized as poor or very poor. All other index scores meet the biological criteria.
  
  
• Non:  Two or more of the index scores do not achieve the sites biological criteria, or any one of the index scores is described as poor or very poor.

The legal description of Ohio's aquatic-life beneficial uses and biological criteria is available in Ohio Administrative Code chapter 3745-1-07.