National Park Service

The National Park Service's (NPS) Organic Act of 1916 states that the mission of the NPS is to promote and regulate the use of national parks, monuments, and other units "... to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such a manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." One task embodied by this mission is preserving and protecting water resources and water dependent environments in parks. Ensuring the integrity of park water quality, due to its importance in sustaining natural, aquatic park ecosystems and supporting human consumptive and recreational use, is fundamental to successfully addressing this task. The first step in ensuring the integrity of park water quality is defining historic and extant water quality.