Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters of Wisconsin

Abstract: Wisconsin's Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters Program is designed to maintain the water quality in Wisconsin's cleanest waters. An outstanding resource water is defined as a lake or stream having excellent water quality, high recreational and aesthetic value, high quality fishing and is free from point source or non-point source pollution. An exceptional resource water is a water defined as a stream exhibiting the same high quality resource values as an ORW, but may be impacted by point or non-point sources of pollution, or have the potential for receiving a wastewater discharge from a non-sewered community in the future. Note: This DRAFT data is from a particular point in time, and is subject to change.

Purpose Description: The Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters (OERW's) (NR102). OERW's are a Natural Resource Designation (i.e. codified law) whereas the Trout Stream designation is a Biological Use Classification. Some Class I trout streams are designated as ORW's (Outstanding Resource Waters). All other Class I trout streams (according to Wisconsin Trout Streams publication 6-3600 (80)) that are not listed in NR 102 as ORW's are classified as ERW's (Exceptional Resource Waters). A few additional Class II & Class III waters are listed in the code as either ORW's or ERW's.

Access Constraints: None

Use Constraints: Since the source of these data are codified (NR102) a disclaimer notice that must/should accompany the coverage and be visible on map products. Here is an example of the language for the disclaimer:

Wisconsin's Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters Program is designed to maintain the water quality in Wisconsin's cleanest waters. An outstanding resource water is defined as a lake or stream having excellent water quality, high recreational and aesthetic value, high quality fishing and is free from point source or nonpoint source pollution. An exceptional resource water is defined as a stream exhibiting the same high quality resource values as outstanding waters, but may be impacted by point source pollution or have the potential for future discharge from a small sewer community.

This data set represents Outstanding and Exceptional Resource Waters of Wisconsin as of the most recent update, and is subject to change.

Currentness Reference: Publication date of source data

Geographic Extent: Statewide

Native Data Environment: ArcView version 9.0

Maintenance Update Frequency: Ongoing

Progress Type: Draft

Process Step Description: The OERW layer is of mixed scale - if the waterbody showed up at 100K the arc was copied from the 100K DLG. If it didn't show up at that scale, it was digitized from 24K, or taken from air photo interpretation.

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