What is the Water Quality Portal (WQP)

The Water Quality Portal (WQP) is a cooperative service sponsored by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The WQP integrates publicly available water quality data from the USGS National Water Information System (NWIS) and the EPA Water Quality Exchange (WQX) Data Warehouse.

The EPA water quality data originate from the Water Quality Exchange, the EPA's repository of water quality monitoring data collected by water resource management groups across the country. Organizations, including states, tribes, watershed groups, other federal agencies, volunteer groups, and universities, submit data to the WQX in order to make their data publicly accessible.

The USGS water quality data originate from the NWIS Web Database. The database contains current and historical water data from more than 1.5 million sites across the nation. It is used by state and local governments, public and private utilities, private citizens, and other federal agencies involved with managing water resources. All publicly available discrete water quality data are available through the Water Quality Portal at this time.