Department of
Environmental Quality

In 1993, DEQ embarked on a pilot monitoring program, the Beneficial Use Reconnaissance Project (now Program), nicknamed “BURP,” which combined biological monitoring and habitat assessment to determine the quality of Idaho's waters. The purpose of BURP is to help Idaho meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act by providing data to use in determining the existing uses and beneficial use support status of Idaho's water bodies. The program has been implemented statewide since 1994.

How BURP Data Are Collected

Each summer, DEQ BURP technicians follow standardized procedures to collect aquatic insects, conduct fish surveys, measure water chemistry, and document habitat conditions in streams, rivers, and lakes. The BURP surveys are performed during the same time period each year so the information is comparable from one year to the next.

Aquatic insects and fish are very sensitive to changes in water quality, so their presence, abundance, and health serve as indicators of the overall quality of a water body. Generally, unpolluted waters support a greater variety of aquatic insects and fish than polluted waters.

How BURP Data Are Used

The BURP data are evaluated against Idaho's water quality standards using Idaho's Water Body Assessment Guidance to determine if the water body is meeting standards and supporting beneficial uses. If a water body is found to not be meeting water quality standards, a water quality plan, or total maximum daily load (TMDL), is developed. If a water body is found to be meeting standards, it will be monitored again in the future to ensure it continues to meet standards.

The results of BURP monitoring are used in other ways as well, including providing data for use in:

• Developing water quality standards and criteria
• Compiling Idaho's Integrated Report, which shows the condition of all of the state's waters and a list of impaired waters
• Preparing subbasin assessments

How DEQ Ensures Quality BURP Data

The data gathered from BURP monitoring are the basis for many surface water quality decisions made by DEQ. However, those decisions are only as good as the data they are based on. DEQ ensures quality BURP data by providing centralized training for BURP crews, using a standardized manual, following annual work plans, conducting annual field reviews, and following a quality assurance plan.

Centralized Training

Centralized training for regional BURP coordinators and BURP field crews ensures that all BURP data from across the state are collected and recorded in the same manner. Each year's training includes on-the-ground training in collection techniques and a review of the BURP field manual and current year's work plan.

BURP Field Manual for Streams

The BURP field manual describes the BURP data collection process including the assumptions, methods, and equipment required to provide statewide consistency in data collection.

• BURP Field Manual for Streams (May 2007)
  

BURP Annual Work Plans and Field Evaluations

Each year, the BURP program develops an annual work plan to provide background information about BURP and list yearly objectives, special considerations, and the watersheds to be sampled. Annual work plans also help provide consistency within the program and serve as a substantial portion of BURP's quality assurance/quality control program. In addition, a one-day field audit is held each year with each BURP field crew as it samples a stream reach. The purpose of the audits is to ensure that all protocols are being followed. The BURP field crews are provided feedback on their techniques the day of the audit and a report summarizing all of the audits is written at the end of the field season.

• 2011 Annual Work BURP Work Plan

BURP Quality Assurance Plan for Field Data Sheets

The BURP quality assurance plan describes DEQ's quality control measures for using and processing BURP field data sheets.

• BURP Quality Assurance Plan for Field Data Sheets and Data Handling on Wadeable (Small) Streams (2002)

Water Body Assessment Guidance

The Water Body Assessment Guidance (WBAG) describes DEQ's methods for evaluating data and determining beneficial use support of Idaho water bodies. Assessing a water body involves analyzing and integrating multiple types of data to determine the degree of beneficial use support and biological integrity of the water body and compile descriptive information about the water body. The current WBAG, published in 2002, is referred to as “WBAG II,” as it replaced the original WBAG published in 1996.

• Water Body Assessment Guidance (January 2002)

DEQ recognizes three categories of beneficial use support status: fully supporting, not fully supporting, and not assessed. “Fully supporting” means that a water body is in compliance with water quality standards and criteria and supports all designated and existing beneficial uses. “Not fully supporting” refers to a water body that is not in compliance with all water quality standards or criteria or is not supporting all beneficial uses. The “not assessed” category describes water bodies that have either not been monitored by DEQ at all or have been monitored to some extent, but are missing critical information needed to complete an assessment.

Water Body Assessment Guidance Framework

Two framework documents (one for rivers and one for small streams) provide technical information supporting the aquatic life use support section (Section 6) of the WBAG.

• Idaho River Ecological Assessment Framework (April 2002)
• Idaho Small Stream Ecological Assessment Framework (June 2002)