Basic Instructions
for
Retrieving Water Quality Data from EPA's STORET System

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection's fixed Water Quality Network (WQN) data is stored in the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) STORET system. The system is broken down into two programs - the Legacy STORET system and the Modernized STORET system. The Legacy STORET system contains Pennsylvania's data that was submitted prior to September 1998. Data collected after September 1998 is included in the Modernized STORET system. Currently, the Modernized STORET system houses the WQN stream chemistry data. The WQN lakes, fish tissue, and macroinvertebrate data will be posted in the coming months.

To access the data go to EPA's website www.epa.gov/storet  and follow the directions in the documents listed below.

Obtaining Water Quality Data from  The LEGACY STORET system (PDF)    (Accessible Text File) The MODERNIZED STORET system (PDF)    (Accessible Text File)

Water Quality Standards Homepage