Online Waters of the U.S. Mapping Tool Now Available to OABA Members

The Agriculture Nutrient Policy Council (ANPC), in conjunction with the engineering firm Geosyntec, has prepared detailed maps of water features across the United States. The maps correspond closely to features that would be Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) under the proposed Clean Water Act rulemaking with the EPA and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.

Through its membership in ANPC, Ohio AgriBusiness Association's members are able to access Agriculture’s WOTUS Mapping Initiative (AWMI). The online service provides detailed mapping in 17 states and extensive ground level river, stream, ditch, canal and wetland detail for all 50 states.

Online mapping features include:

• Zoom in and out to see greater on-the-ground detail.

• Search counties, cities or specific locations (like a farm address) to see what features are mapped there.

• Bookmark locations to come back and examine later.

• Change base layers, from aerial imagery, to a map that shows roads and more place names, to a topo map, a light gray background to see features more clearly, etc.

• Use tools to take measure distances.

• Generate and print images, save them to emails or incorporate into documents.

Information about streams and other water features is drawn from the USGS National Hydrography Dataset (NHDPlus). The EPA has been working with USGS for over 30 years in the development of this data for mapping purposes, and EPA uses NHDPlus in their implementation of the CWA. (See for example EPA’s “My Waters” mapper at http://www.epa.gov/waters/mywatersmapper/.)

While NHD data does not represent formal CWA jurisdictional determinations, tributary and drainage features depicted in NHDPlus, as well as the wetlands and wet areas adjacent to the tributaries, correspond well with waters that are categorically WOTUS under the proposed rule.

Click here to view Agriculture’s WOTUS Mapping Initiative.