1) Water Quality Standards
The mission on the EPA is to protect human health and the environment through regulatory responsibility and scientific research supporting regulatory action. The 1972 Clean Water Act set the structure for regulating pollution discharge into “Waters of the US”, making it illegal to discharge pollutants without permit, requires each state to set water quality standards. The objective of the Clean Water Act is to restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.
Water Quality Standards are provisions that describe the desired condition of water bodies. This includes use designations, criteria to protect these uses and provisions to prevent degradation (antidegradation rules). All details abouts these rules can be found on the Federal EPA main page https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech This main page and has many links with details. The Link “Learn more about Water Quality Standards” and its link to the Water Quality Standards Academy https://www.epa.gov/wqs-tech/water-quality-standards-academy provides excellent introductions and has links for “Virtual WQS Academy February 2026 Session Slides”
Ohio specific Water Quality Standards implementation details can be found on the Ohio EPA WQ Standards website https://epa.ohio.gov/divisions-and-offices/surface-water/reports-data/water-quality-standards-program and helpful overview slides are at https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/epa.ohio.gov/Portals/35/wqs/WQS_overview_Apr04.pdf Ohio EPA prescribed procedures for water quality monitoring are in https://dam.assets.ohio.gov/image/upload/epa.ohio.gov/Portals/35/tmdl/2024intreport/Section-A.pdf
2) Watershed Information and Waterway Mapping Tools
The mywaterway website https://mywaterway.epa.gov/ has a lot of detailed information for your community regional sub watershed that you can locate by zip code. Type in your zip code and learn about water quality, OEPA monitoring locations, and discharge permits and more. Find regions in Ohio with good water quality e.g. 45133 (Rocky Fork). The regions are organized by HUC12 hydrological Unit Code. HUC is a nationwide system used by USGS to delineate sub-watersheds. The first 2 digits of HUC divide the US in 22 large regions, our region is the Upper Ohio River Basin 05. There are 245 four-digit subdivisions, down to about 105,000 HUC12 subdivisions. The SWAG Area has five HUC12 areas. The information included in mywaterway varies by State. Ohio typically includes only one or two streams in the sub-watershed.
West Virginia and Idaho include nearly all waterways; explore zip codes 25976, 45739 or 83429.
StreamStats https://streamstats.usgs.gov/ss/ delineates all waterways and gives drainage area, land use and flow information. Select State, scroll and magnify the map so you can see the blue streamlines. Click on a stream you want to explore, click delineate. It will map the drainage area to the selected stream. In the dashboard on the left under “continue” you can select what information you want to see. Note, in urban areas is sometimes not easy to tell a real surface water from storm sewers.
Streamcat https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/streamcat-web-tool-map-view is a similar tool. Magnify to the stream you want to explore and click on the stream. The drainage area for a stream section will be displayed. There is a huge list of parameters, e.g. pctimp2011 is percent impervious 2011, pctdecid2011 is percent deciduous forest click “data preview” or “process” to get the data
The National Wetland Inventory Mapper https://www.fws.gov/program/national-wetlands-inventory/wetlands-mapper
delineates and gives information about wetlands. Click on an area, e.g. Glacier Ridge Metro Park, and it will delineate some wetland, select the delineated wetland, pond or riverine habitat and get more information.
3) Columbus Water Information and Regulation
Details about Columbus Drinking Water are found Current Consumer Confidence Report – City of Columbus, Ohio
Columbus Stormwater Drainage Manual Stormwater Drainage Manual – City of Columbus, Ohio has all the technical information construction requirements for proper storm water management. The Stream Corridor Protection Zones this is part of the Drainage Manual Stream Corridor Protection Zones – City of Columbus, Ohio
4) Central Ohio Water Quality Study Reports
Big & Little Darby Conservation Study Big & Little Darby Creeks Conservation Study | Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Central Ohio Water Study Central Ohio Regional Water Study | Ohio Environmental Protection Agency
MBI Study Reports https://mwbinst.com/publications/tech-reports