Simple Query Tool  - Help

Query Listings

The Query by Example form is used to locate listings in the Watershed Assessment Tracking System. Individual and group listings can be located by filling in the search form. It is not necessary to fill every available space. In fact, the more spaces that are completed, the more restrictive the search will be. If one of the spaces is filled with the wrong information, the desired results may not be returned to you. The query system is “AND” based, as opposed to “OR” based.

For example, you should not check the previous listing cycle boxes unless you want to receive a result set that is restricted by your selections. If you check, “5” in 2008, “5” in 2004, “Y” in 1998, and “Y” in 1996, you’re result set would be limited to only those listing that appear as “on the 303(d) List” in each and every one of those cycles. This answers the question: Show me any listing that was on the 1996 List, stayed on the 1998 List, stayed again on the 2004 List and is still on the 2008 List. To view the 2004 List, one should leave the selections boxes for 1996, 1998, and 2008 at the default, “ALL”, and restrict the search by selecting “5” for 2004. In essence, this query says: Show me all listings, but ensure they were Category 5 in 2004. After completing the form and clicking on the Submit button, the data will be processed and any listing that matches the search criteria will be displayed in a list. You can select specific listings from this result set.

When entering selection criteria in one of the boxes not controlled by a dropdown list, you can enter partial data (the first few letters) followed by the wild card character (%) and the system will respond with any listing that matches the partial data. For example, entering "SQUA%" will return listings for "Squaxin, Peale, and Pickering Passages" but will not return data for "Nisqually River". In cases where the search criteria needs to look for partial words, a wild card character can be used at the beginning and end of the partial word or phrase. For example, putting %squally% in the Water Body Name field will return Nisqually River, Middle Nisqually, Nisqually Reach/Drayton Harbor, etc. This can be particularly helpful when searching for a string of information in the Basis field. For example, entering %Gifford Pinchot National Forest unpublished data% will return every listing that contains the string "Gifford Pinchot National Forest unpublished data" in the Basis field.

• Category 1 - Meets Tested Standards - for waters where the most recent data indicates the water body segment meets water quality standards for the parameter measured.

• Category 2 - Waters of Concern - for waters that show some evidence of a water quality problem, but short of impairment.

• Category 3 - No Data - for waters where there is no usable data about a given pollutant in a given waterbody.  In most cases, these waters are not written down.  This category amounts to "everything else" that is not in some other category.

• Category 4A - Has a TMDL - for impaired waterbodies that have an EPA-approved TMDL in place.  If the TMDL is unsuccessful, the waterbody will be placed in Category 5.

• Category 4B - Has a Pollution Control Plan - for impaired waterbodies that have an appropriate plan comparable to a TMDL already in place to correct the impairment.

• Category 4C - Impaired by a Non-pollutant - for waterbodies that are impaired by any cause that is not a pollutant.  This includes flow, barriers, and stream channelization.  The TMDL process is not appropriate for addressing these impairments.

• Category 5 - Impaired by a Pollutant and Needs a TMDL - for waterbodies that are identified as impaired and there is no TMDL or other Pollution Control Plan in place.  Category 5 is also known as the 303(d) List of Impaired Waters.

• 1 - Habitat
• 2 - Sediment
• 3 - Tissue
• 4 - Other
• 5 - Water

Township, Range, Section - In Washington State's segmentation system, segments of rivers, streams, and lakes of less than 1,500 acres are defined as the portion of the waterbody lying within a given section of a township and range. In a few cases, where property is legally defined in terms other than by section, the segments are defined by Donation Land Claims (DLC) or other applicable legal description. The format for data entry consists of seven fields concatenated into one identifier using 10 characters.

• Township number (2 digits - 01 thru 41, include leading zero)

• Township fraction (1 digit - 0 or 5, for Townships such as T 24-1/2 N, use 5 to represent the 1/2)

• Township direction (1 character - all Washington Townships are N for North)

• Range number (2 digits - 01 thru 47, include leading zero)

• Range fraction (1 digit - 0 or 5, for Ranges such as R 8-1/2 W, use 5 to represent the 1/2)

• Range direction (1 character, E or W of the Willamette meridian)

• Section number (2 digits, 01 thru 99 - most typically 01 thru 36, (DLCs are usually 37 and above)

Example: "T 15 N, R 7 E, section 20" would be entered as "150N070E20"