VI-14 



SECTION 3. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION 



The sources of information for the list of descriptors were many 

 and varied. They include nearly all agencies of the Department of 

 the Interior, many agencies of other Federal Denartments, individual 

 States, and private entities. Table VI. 1.2. lists the primary sources 

 of information for each major section of the Inventory. Note that 

 the types of information obtained from each source are related 

 directly to its operational missions. 



In most cases, the information was obtained by direct request to 

 the prime source agency. Where a compilation on a regional basis 

 already existed this created no problems, however, in some cases, 

 as with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Sports 

 Fisheries and Wildlife, it was necessary to compile some of the 

 basic statistics. In most cases, the agencies were extremely 

 cooperative in supplying the available information. In two cases, 

 for the States of Alaska and Texas, contracts were negotiated to 

 obtain Inventory data from widely scattered State files. Thousands 

 of additional items, however, were obtained from a wide variety of 

 other sources. 



The operational missions of the Federal Water Pollution Control 

 Administration make it the primary federal data sourc° for informa- 

 tion on water nuality related to water pollution waste discharges 

 and water gualitv standards in interstate waters. The major reoosi- 

 tory of interstate water pollution data, then, is the FWPCA regional 

 offices. However, in all intrastate waters the States have primary 



