"This report summarizes water quality assessment information submitted by the States to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1990 under Section 305(b) of the Clean Water Act. The States based their water quality assessments on data collected in 1988 and 1989 using physical, chemical, and "evaluative" approaches such as sending questionnaires to fisheries biologists and analyzing land use data."--Page xiii

This is the fourth and final volume reviewing EPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). After 4 years of review, the authoring committee retains its belief that EMAP's goals are laudable. However, because achieving the goals of this ambitious program will require that EMAP successfully meet the difficult scientific, practical, and management challenges, the committee continues to question whether and how well all these goals can be achieved. This final overall review reiterates that general assessment.