N-STEPS Program
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Nutrient Scientific Technical Exchange Partnership & Support (N-STEPS) program provides technical assistance to water quality scientists who are working to develop numeric nutrient criteria to protect the designated uses of their state, territorial or Tribal surface waters. Since its creation in 2005, N-STEPS has developed materials, tools, and offered technical assistance for all stages of numeric nutrient criteria development –i.e. planning, data preparation and management, data exploration, analysis and model development, scientific literature review, and peer review.
N-STEPS Online
Technical Assistance
Technical assistance for numeric nutrient criteria derivation is available to state, territory, and Tribal water quality agencies. These entities are invited to coordinate and submit their proposals through the EPA’s Regional Nutrient Coordinators. These proposals can be tailored to address their individual needs specific to where they are in the process. Requests for proposals are generally considered each fiscal year on a rolling basis.
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Limnology
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Marine science
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Statistical/mechanistic modeling
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Biogeochemistry
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Hydrology
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Aquatic ecology
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Biology
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Environmental statistics
For general information regarding this program, contact Jacques Oliver (oliver.jacques@epa.gov), Office of Water, Office of Science and Technology: 202-566-0630.