ArcGIS REST Services Directory
JSON

Layer: Ammonia (ID:2)

View In:   Map Viewer

Name: Ammonia

Display Field: OrganizationFormalName

Type: Feature Layer

Geometry Type: esriGeometryPoint

Description: <div><b>Description:</b> National Measured Ammonia Data derived from data stored in the U.S. EPA Water Quality Portal.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Data Date Range:</b> 01/2000 – 12/2023</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Acquisition Date:</b> 1/25/2024</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Query Links:</b> https://www.waterqualitydata.us/#sampleMedia=Water&amp;characteristicName=Ammonia&amp;startDateLo=01-01-2000&amp;startDateHi=12-31-2023&amp;mimeType=csv&amp;dataProfile=narrowResult&amp;providers=NWIS&amp;providers=STORET</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Min. Value:</b> -99</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Max. Value:</b> 393000</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Units in Source/Original Dataset:</b> &lt;Null&gt;, % recovery, m, mg N/l******, mg/kg, mg/l, mg/L, mg/l as N, MPN, None, ppb, ppm, ug/l, ug/L, umol, umol/L</div><div><br /></div><div>Background</div><div>Ammonia is found naturally in the environment, produced by the decay of organic matter and animal waste (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/caddis/ammonia" target="_blank">USEPA 2024</a>). It is also a part of the nitrogen cycle, where it is produced by nitrogen-fixing bacteria and is essential for the synthesis of amino acids and other biological molecules. Ammonia exists primarily in two forms: un-ionized ammonia (NH3) and ionized ammonium (NH4+), with this dataset focusing on ammonia. The equilibrium between these forms is pH and temperature dependent.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>In freshwater environments, ammonia can come from a variety of sources (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/caddis/ammonia" target="_blank">EPA 2024</a>, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/wqc/aquatic-life-criteria-ammonia" target="_blank">EPA 2013</a>), including but not limited to:</div><div><div><ul><li>Natural sources</li><ul><li>decomposition or breakdown of organic waste matter</li><li>gas exchange with the atmosphere</li><li>forest fires</li><li>animal and human waste</li><li>nitrogen fixation processes</li><li>lightning</li></ul><li>Anthropogenic sources</li><ul><li>agriculture include animal wastes:</li></ul><ul><li><i>concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs)</i></li><li><i>other livestock operations</i></li><li><i>aquaculture facilities</i></li><li><i>fertilizers applied to crop fields</i></li></ul><li>urban and suburban development</li><ul><li>fertilizers applied to golf courses and lawns</li><li>human wastewater</li><li>landfill wastes</li><li>nitrogenous vehicle emissions</li></ul><li>Industries</li><ul><li>coal-fired power plants and other industrial facilities</li><li>metal finishing and treating applications</li><li>pharmaceuticals and dyes</li><li>crude oil and in corrosion protection</li><li>metals extraction during mining</li></ul></ul></div></div><div><div>Ammonia is acutely toxic to animals and is normally excreted as ammonia or urea. When concentrations are too high, aquatic organisms cannot sufficiently excrete ammonia which then builds up in the internal tissues and blood, and potentially results in death. (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/wqc/aquatic-life-criteria-ammonia" target="_blank">EPA 2013</a>).</div><div><br /></div><div>Dissolved sulfate in freshwater is measured by Semi-Automated Colorimetry (<a href="https://www.epa.gov/esam/epa-method-3501-determination-ammonia-nitrogen-semi-automated-colorimetry" target="_blank">EPA 350.1</a>) or flow injection analysis automated colorimetric method (e.g., Lachat 10-107-06-3-D). Our quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) procedures were used to summarize reported values as well as the contributor’s laboratory processing and reporting procedures that were used by the contributor to ensure results of comparable measures that were used to summarize site data in the Freshwater Explorer.  The WQP portal original dataset contains annotations for each sample to help understand the reliability and pedigree of the final reported values in the dataset.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Dataset</b></div><div>This dataset focuses primarily on samples reported as ammonia.  Unit conversions were normalized to mg/l as listed in Table 1.</div><div><br /></div><div>This dataset is a collection surface water ammonia samples collected across the United States from 2000-2023 from the Water Quality Portal (WQP), which integrates publicly available water quality data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) and the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) Data Warehouse. These water quality data records are provided by many federal, state, and tribal organizations and other partners. Because these data are from secondary sources, the U.S. EPA cannot ensure that the information is accurate, current, or complete. Therefore, users should verify the data from the original sources before drawing site specific conclusions.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) and identified issues</b></div><div>An automated Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) protocol was developed using a mix of Python and R-scripts to remove or identify potentially erroneous values (outliers) in WQP. The quality of the WQP measured data was evaluated as follows.  The quality of the WQP measured data was evaluated as follows.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><div><ul><li>Generally – do not delete data. Add a screening/flagging column to keep track of decision-making to remove records/observations.</li><li>Review the geographic/temporal scope and data types of the acquired data to the project objectives—it might not be necessary to process all data from a given data set. Map stations in a GIS to further refine and select data based on analysis selection criteria: geographic area, watersheds, bounding box, waterbody type, etc. This also provides the opportunity to conduct quality assurance checks based on spatial location (e.g., are the “estuarine” sites located near the coast).</li><li>Flag values outside of the known maximum and minimum ranges (0 – 250 mg/L) of ammonia in freshwater systems.  </li><li>Flag values reported with units of measurements different than mg/L.</li><li>Convert all relevant ammonia values to mg/L or flag values where there is no direct path for unit conversion.</li><li>Identify and flag (gray circles) ammonia values &gt; 250 mg/L.</li><li>Review and flag samples identified in the WQP with sample processing issues (e.g., suspected contamination, exceeding sampling hold time, no reported value).</li></ul></div></div><div style="text-align:center;"><img alt="Unit conversion to mg/L for measured ammonia samples." src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNcD6U45OJ5QMNSZyy_m_JnG_gj2qQ82wmfBFOgVxfoykdDsXmf1g-1XFsPRQ2wnzEWXmMT6NwPDAZbv1B372iM70wb_eTL4nwbloJNlwbzYU2A-xcEnwJOvOOXxout8rEHtaBfO2y8KCRG2w-n_OzN7Q=w646-h397-s-no-gm?authuser=0" /><br /></div><div style="text-align:center;"><i>Table 1. Unit conversion to mg/L for measured ammonia samples.</i><br /></div><div style="text-align:left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align:left;"><div>Examples of errors found include negative ammonia values, units of measurements not consistent with surface water ammonia measurements (e.g., % recovery, m, mg/kg, MPN, None, ppb, ppm, umol/L), and values well above known ammonia ranges in freshwater systems. Users should verify the data from the original sources before drawing site specific conclusions. Individual contributing organizations can still be found in the final and original datasets if the end user would like to filter for only specific sampling partners.</div><div><br /></div><div>The resulting dataset is presented as summarized collection information for each unique sampling location and the original data flagging process helps to exclude unreliable and errant values from the final statistics. The R code developed to perform the QA/QC steps are available from <a href="mailto:cormier.susan@epa.gov" target="_blank">cormier.susan@epa.gov</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div></div><div><div><b>Terms of Use</b></div><div><b>Freshwater Explorer Data Disclaimer</b></div><div>This data is intended for exploratory and discussion purposes. Although statutory provisions and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations contain legally binding requirements, these data and related information are not regulatory, nor do they change or substitute for any provisions or regulations. The information does not substitute for the Clean Water Act, a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, or EPA or state regulations applicable to permits; nor is this material a permit or regulation itself. Thus, it does not impose legally binding requirements on EPA, states, tribes, or the regulatory community. This information does not confer legal rights or impose legal obligations on any member of the public. Mention of any trade names, products, or services is not and should not be interpreted as conveying official EPA approval, endorsement, or recommendation.</div><div><br /></div><div>While EPA has used its best efforts to include complete and accurate information in this system, EPA cannot be held responsible for errors or omissions and is not liable for any direct, indirect, or consequential damages resulting from using this secondary information. Some potential sources of error have been assessed by the U.S. EPA resulting in the removal of some samples from the original data sets. However, all sources of potential error cannot be eliminated from the measured data reported in the Freshwater Explorer or the data used to develop predictive models. Therefore, the U.S. EPA cannot fully ensure either the original data or the values calculated from them. Conclusions and assessments drawn from the use of the Freshwater Explorer are the responsibility of the user.</div><div><br /></div><div>Please check sources, scale, accuracy, dates, and other available information. Please confirm that you are using the most recent copy of both data and metadata. Reliance on the information contained in this system by any party cannot be used as a defense in any administrative or judicial proceeding.</div><div><br /></div><div>This dataset may be revised periodically. EPA can revise this dataset without public notice to reflect changes in EPA policy, guidance, and advancements in the field of biological assessments. EPA welcomes public input on this document at any time. Send comments to FreshwaterExplorer@epa.gov, National Center for Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 W. Martin Luther King Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45268.</div></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Preferred citation:</b> Leppo, E., Wharton, C., and Cormier. S. 2024. U.S. EPA Freshwater Explorer v2 national measured dissolved ammonia metadata and dataset. USEPA. <a href="https://arcg.is/0OuDn80" target="_blank">https://arcg.is/0OuDn80</a><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div><b>References</b></div><div>U.S. EPA. 1993. “Method 350.1: Nitrogen, Ammonia (Colorimetric, Automated Phenate),” Revision 2.0. Cincinnati, OH. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/esam/epa-method-3501-determination-ammonia-nitrogen-semi-automated-colorimetry" target="_blank">https://www.epa.gov/esam/epa-method-3501-determination-ammonia-nitrogen-semi-automated-colorimetry</a></div><div><br /></div><div>U.S. EPA. 2024. Ammonia. Causal Analysis/Diagnosis Decision Information System (CADDIS). <a href="https://www.epa.gov/caddis/ammonia" target="_blank">https://www.epa.gov/caddis/ammonia</a></div><div><br /></div><div>USEPA. 2013. Aquatic Life Ambient Water Quality Criteria for Ammonia – Freshwater. Office of Water. EPA 822-R-18-002. <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-08/documents/aquatic-life-ambient-water-quality-criteria-for-ammonia-freshwater-2013.pdf" target="_blank">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-08/documents/aquatic-life-ambient-water-quality-criteria-for-ammonia-freshwater-2013.pdf</a></div></div><div><br /></div>

Copyright Text: Water Quality Portal. Washington (DC): National Water Quality Monitoring Council, United States Geological Survey (USGS), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); 2021. https://doi.org/10.5066/P9QRKUVJ.

Min. Scale: 0

Max. Scale: 0

Default Visibility: true

Max Record Count: 2000

Supported query Formats: JSON, geoJSON, PBF

Use Standardized Queries: True

Extent:

Drawing Info:

HasZ: false

HasM: false

Has Attachments: false

Has Geometry Properties: false

HTML Popup Type: esriServerHTMLPopupTypeAsHTMLText

Object ID Field: OBJECTID

Unique ID Field:

Global ID Field:

Type ID Field:

Fields:
Templates:

Is Data Versioned: false

Has Contingent Values: false

Supports Rollback On Failure Parameter: true

Last Edit Date: 10/9/2024 2:59:26 PM

Schema Last Edit Date: 4/1/2024 8:43:32 PM

Data Last Edit Date: 4/1/2024 8:43:32 PM

Supported Operations:   Query   Query Top Features   Query Analytic   Query Bins   Generate Renderer   Validate SQL   Get Estimates   ConvertFormat