An official website of the United States government.

This is not the current EPA website. To navigate to the current EPA website, please go to www.epa.gov. This website is historical material reflecting the EPA website as it existed on January 19, 2021. This website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work. More information »

Bioassessment and Biocriteria Program Status for Ute Mountain Ute Tribe: Streams and Wadeable Rivers

State Program Contact

Ute Mountain Ute Environmental DepartmentExit


Water Quality Standards

WQS Information
The link to Ute Mountain Ute Tribe's WQS that are in effect for Clean Water Act purposes is provided. These are the WQS approved by EPA.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe provided information and links to sections of their administrative code on designated aquatic life use, biological criteria, and antidegradation. These are included for your convenience and may or may not reflect the most recently EPA approved WQS.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe provided information and links to sections of their administrative code on designated aquatic life use, biological criteria, antidegradation as well as technical support documents and information on its bioassessment and biocriteria programs. These are included for your convenience and may or may not reflect the most recently EPA approved WQS. The following links exit the site Exit

You may need a PDF reader to view some of the files on this page. Refer to EPA’s about PDF page to learn more.

Designated Aquatic Life Uses
Temperature-based warm and cold waters that support water species of aquatic life, including associated benthic macroinvertebrate communities.

  • Cold Water Aquatic Life
  • Warm Water Aquatic Life

Biological Criteria
__X__ Narrative statement
_____ Numeric
_____ No criteria

The overall goal of the biological criterion of the Tribe is to maintain and support the structure and function of aquatic communities in conditions similar to reference sites or reference conditions that are determined by the Tribe.
Water Quality Standards for Surface Waters - Page 10

Antidegradation Policy
Use of biocriteria or bioassessment not included in antidegradation policyWater Quality Standards for Surface Waters - Page 9


Biological Assessment

What biological assemblages are used in the bioassessment program?
Benthic macroinvertebrates, fish, and periphyton

Are bioassessments used to support 303(d) listings?
No

How are assemblages used to make impairment decisions?
Used generally and holistically (all together with water chemistry data, habitat data)

Other uses of biocriteria or bioassessment within the water quality program:
Non-point source assessments and 305(b) surface water condition assessments


Technical Support Information and Documents:

Reference condition:
Reference site: A site or water body which is determined by the Tribe to be representative of sites or waterbodies of similar type, and are least impaired with respect to habitat, water quality, watershed land use, and riparian and biological condition.

Reference condition: A physical, biological and chemical condition that is determined by the Tribe to be characteristic of minimally impaired conditions with respect to habitat, water quality, watershed land use, and riparian and biological condition in lieu of an unimpaired reference site. A reference condition may be assigned as a goal for the biological community if there is an insufficient number of reference sites or if those sites become impaired. Data for a reference condition will be treated in the same manner as if it were a reference site.

Biocriteria:
Not available.

Stressor identification/causal analysis approach:
Stressor identification

Top of Page