KDHE Home - Environment - BEFS - Technical Services Section
| Bureau of Environmental Field Services |
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Technical Services SectionThe Technical Services Section monitors water quality conditions in streams and publicly owned lakes and wetlands throughout Kansas. This Section also tracks environmental contaminant levels in fish and other aquatic life and performs special water pollution investigations in cooperation with the BEFS district offices and other governmental agencies. Programs administered by the Section are designed to meet the environmental surveillance and reporting requirements of the Clean Water Act and other applicable federal and state laws. Information obtained through these efforts is applied in the development of the state's biennial water quality assessment and list of water quality-limited surface waters (see Integrated Water Quality Assessment). Water quality data also are applied in the formulation of total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for 303(d)-listed water bodies; in the derivation of permit limits for discharging wastewater treatment facilities; and in the development of aquatic recreational advisories and fish tissue consumption advisories. The Technical Services Section works with other KDHE programs to identify potential risks to natural resources resulting from the unauthorized release of pollutants to the waters of the state. For more information, see the KDHE Bureau of Environmental Remediation website and the US Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for ecological risk assessment. Environmental monitoring objectives and procedures are comprehensively reexamined at five-year intervals to address evolving regulatory expectations, budgetary realities, and technological and methodological advances in the field of environmental surveillance (download the 2011-2015 Kansas water quality monitoring and assessment strategy 1.4 MB). All routine monitoring programs and special monitoring initiatives implemented by the Technical Services Section abide by the terms and conditions of approved standard operating procedures and quality management plans. PROGRAM WEBSITES:The Technical Services Section administers six long-term monitoring programs:
BIBLIOGRAPHYThe work of the Technical Services Section is documented in a variety of written and visual formats. For a list of recent documents, click here for bibliography. CONTACT US
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Kansas Department of Health & Environment |