In USEPA/TADA: EPA TADA (Tools for Automated Data Analysis) R Package

library(knitr)

knitr::opts_chunk$set(
  echo = TRUE,
  warning = FALSE,
  message = FALSE
)

Welcome!

Thank you for your interest in Tools for Automated Data Analysis (TADA). TADA is an open-source tool set built in the R programming language. This RMarkdown document walks users through how to download the TADA R package from GitHub, access and parameterize several important functions, and create basic visualizations with a sample data set.

Note: TADA is still under development. New functionality is added weekly, and sometimes we need to make bug fixes in response to tester and user feedback. We appreciate your feedback, patience, and interest in these helpful tools.

If you are interested in contributing to TADA development, more information is available at:

Contributing

We welcome collaboration with external partners.

Install and load packages

First, install and load the remotes package specifying the repo. This is needed before installing TADA because it is only available on GitHub.

install.packages("remotes",
  repos = "http://cran.us.r-project.org"
)
library(remotes)

Next, install and load TADA using the remotes package. TADA R Package dependencies will also be downloaded automatically from CRAN with the TADA install. You may be prompted in the console to update dependency packages that have more recent versions available. If you see this prompt, it is recommended to update all of them (enter 1 into the console).

remotes::install_github("USEPA/EPATADA",
  ref = "develop",
  dependencies = TRUE
)

Finally, use the library() function to load the TADA R Package into your R session.

library(EPATADA)

Help pages

All EPATADA R package functions have their own individual help pages, listed in the Package index on the Reference tab of the GitHub website. Users can also access the help page for a given function in R or RStudio using the following format (example below): ?[name of TADA function]

# Access help page for TADA_DataRetrieval
?TADA_DataRetrieval

Geospatial Functions in TADA

This vignette showcases functions that provide users the option to convert TADA Water Quality Portal data into a geospatial sf object as well as to associate water quality observations with their intersecting NHD catchments containing entity-defined water quality assessment units in ATTAINS.

A Note About ATTAINS:

The Assessment, Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Tracking and Implementation System (ATTAINS) is an online platform that organizes and combines each state and participating tribe's Clean Water Act reporting data into a single data repository. The geospatial component of ATTAINS includes spatial representations of each entity's surface water assessment units as well as their assigned designated uses, their most recent EPA reporting category (i.e., their impairment status), their impaired designated uses, and the parameter(s) causing the impairment.

Within an assessment unit, the criteria or thresholds used to assess water quality typically remain the same and all water features are assessed as one entity (although there are some exceptions, for example if a single assessment unit crosses multiple ecoregions). Depending on the state or tribe, these assessment units can be a specific point or series of points along a waterbody such as a river or lake, a river reach (line), an entire waterbody such as a river or lake (polygon), or even an entire watershed. In other words, assessment units can take the form of point, line, and area (polygon) features, or some combination of all of them. Moreover, it is possible that some assessment units are not geospatially referenced at all, meaning they are not captured in the ATTAINS geospatial database.

TADA_MakeSpatial()

This function converts any Water Quality Portal (WQP)-style dataframe with latitude/longitude data into a geospatial shapefile object. To run the function, the user supplies a WQP dataframe and the coordinate reference system that they want the spatial object to be in [the default is CRS 4326 (WGS 84)]. For the function to work properly, the input dataframe must have - at a minimum - WQP observation coordinates in "LongitudeMeasure" and "LatitudeMeasure" and a "HorizontalCoordinateReferenceSystemDatumName" column.

Using TADA_MakeSpatial()

First, we will need to pull in some TADA Water Quality Portal Data:

# pH data in Larimer County, Colorado for the year 2020.
TADA_dataframe <- TADA_DataRetrieval(
  startDate = "2020-01-01",
  endDate = "2020-12-31",
  characteristicName = "pH",
  countycode = "US:08:069",
  applyautoclean = TRUE,
  ask = FALSE
)

Now, we can make the water quality data spatial by running TADA_MakeSpatial():

# default CRS is WGS84 (4326)
TADA_spatial <- TADA_MakeSpatial(.data = TADA_dataframe, crs = 4326)

This new spatial object is identical to the original TADA dataframe, but now includes a "geometry" column that allows for mapping and additional geospatial capabilities. Enter ?TADA_MakeSpatial into the console to review another example of this function in use and additional information.

leaflet::leaflet() %>%
  leaflet::addProviderTiles("Esri.WorldTopoMap",
    group = "World topo",
    options = leaflet::providerTileOptions(
      updateWhenZooming = FALSE,
      updateWhenIdle = TRUE
    )
  ) %>%
  leaflet::clearShapes() %>%
  leaflet.extras::addResetMapButton() %>%
  leaflet::addLegend(
    position = "bottomright",
    colors = "black",
    labels = "Water Quality Observation(s)",
    opacity = 1
  ) %>%
  leaflet::addCircleMarkers(
    data = TADA_spatial,
    color = "grey", fillColor = "black",
    fillOpacity = 0.8, stroke = TRUE, weight = 1.5, radius = 6,
    popup = paste0(
      "Site ID: ",
      TADA_spatial$MonitoringLocationIdentifier,
      "<br> Site Name: ",
      TADA_spatial$MonitoringLocationName
    )
  )

TADA_GetATTAINS()

This function pulls in ATTAINS data from the EPA's ATTAINS Assessment Geospatial Service and links it to TADA-pulled Water Quality Portal observations. For the function to work properly, the input dataframe must have - at a minimum - WQP observation coordinates in "LongitudeMeasure" and "LatitudeMeasure" columns and a "HorizontalCoordinateReferenceSystemDatumName" column.

By default, TADA_GetATTAINS() returns a dataframe with ATTAINS-linked Water Quality Portal entries. Users have the added option of returning the intersecting ATTAINS geospatial shapefile objects with their ATTAINS-linked Water Quality Portal dataframe. If return_sf = TRUE, the function returns a list containing the dataframe and shapefile objects named ATTAINS_catchments, ATTAINS_lines, ATTAINS_points, and ATTAINS_polygons. Note, if any of these shapefile objects are empty, this indicates that there are no ATTAINS objects of that type intersecting any WQP-linked ATTAINS catchment.

Regardless of the user's decision on returning the ATTAINS shapefile objects, TADA_GetATTAINS() always returns a dataframe (or dataframes if fill_catchments = TRUE, see section Filling in missing ATTAINS assessment units) containing the original TADA WQP dataframe, plus new columns representing the ATTAINS assessment unit(s) that fall within the same NHDPlus HiRes catchment as them. This means that it is possible for a single TADA WQP observation to have multiple ATTAINS assessment units linked to it and subsequently more than one row of data. Such WQP observations can be identified using the index column (i.e., multiple rows with the same index value are the same observation).

Using TADA_GetATTAINS()

Using either our original TADA_dataframe or the geospatial version TADA_spatial, we can pull in the ATTAINS catchment features that intersect our observations:

TADA_with_ATTAINS <- TADA_GetATTAINS(.data = TADA_dataframe, return_sf = FALSE)

# Can also be performed on the spatial data:
# TADA_with_ATTAINS <- TADA_GetATTAINS(.data = TADA_spatial, return_sf = FALSE)

This new TADA_with_ATTAINS object is a modification of the original TADA Water Quality Portal dataframe that now has additional columns associated with the ATTAINS assessment unit(s) that lie in the same NHD HiRes catchment as them (these columns are prefixed with "ATTAINS"). Moreover, because our TADA_with_ATTAINS object contains more rows than the original TADA dataframe, we can deduce that some Water Quality Portal observations fall within an NHD catchment that contains more than one ATTAINS assessment unit.

TADA_with_ATTAINS_list <- TADA_GetATTAINS(.data = TADA_dataframe, return_sf = TRUE)

# Can also be performed on the spatial data:
# TADA_with_ATTAINS_list <- TADA_GetATTAINS(.data = TADA_spatial, return_sf = TRUE)

If we set return_sf = TRUE as done to create the TADA_with_ATTAINS_list object above, we also now have all the raw intersecting ATTAINS features associated with these ATTAINS catchment observations stored in a list along with the TADA dataframe.

Now, let's select specific columns from the TADA_with_ATTAINS dataframe, and create a new dataframe with ONLY the unique combinations of WQP MonitoringLocationIdentifiers and ATTAINS Assessment Unit Identifiers.

TADA_with_ATTAINS_subset <- TADA_with_ATTAINS %>%
  dplyr::select(
    "LongitudeMeasure", "TADA.LongitudeMeasure",
    "LatitudeMeasure", "TADA.LatitudeMeasure", "MonitoringLocationTypeName",
    "MonitoringLocationIdentifier", "StateCode",
    "ATTAINS.state", "ATTAINS.assessmentunitidentifier",
    "ATTAINS.overallstatus", "ATTAINS.isassessed", "ATTAINS.isimpaired",
    "ATTAINS.organizationid", "ATTAINS.assessmentunitname",
    "ATTAINS.reportingcycle", "ATTAINS.waterbodyreportlink",
    "ATTAINS.waterTypeCode"
  ) %>%
  dplyr::distinct(.keep_all = FALSE)

Filling in missing ATTAINS assessment units

As you can see in the above examples, not all WQP observations have an intersecting ATTAINS catchment: see that in the returned dataframe, some WQP observations have NAs where there should be ATTAINS information. In these instances, the user can optionally fill in catchment information from the NHD by entering fill_catchments = TRUE:

TADA_with_ATTAINS_filled <- TADA_GetATTAINS(TADA_dataframe, fill_catchments = TRUE, return_sf = TRUE)

When fill_catchments = TRUE, the returned list splits observations into two dataframes: WQP observations with ATTAINS catchment data, and WQP observations without ATTAINS catchment data. Instead of listing ATTAINS information in TADA_without_ATTAINS, it links basic information about the catchment including its unique identifier, catchment area, and the resolution of the NHD used. As a default, TADA_GetATTAINS() will use the NHD HiRes (resolution = "Hi") for filling in missing ATTAINS catchments. However, the user can choose to change the resolution to the NHDPlus V2 by setting resolution = "Med".

Moreover, when return_sf = TRUE as above, the function will additionally return the raw catchment features associated with the observations in TADA_without_ATTAINS in a new shapefile called without_ATTAINS_catchments.

Arguments for TADA_GetATTAINS()

• .data: Your input TADA-style Water Quality Portal data.

• fill_catchments: If TRUE, it will find intersecting NHD catchments to fill in information for samples not covered by ATTAINS.

• resolution: Specifies which version of the NHD to use if filling catchments: the "Med", or "Hi". The default option is "Hi".

• return_sf: If TRUE, returns spatial data in addition to tabular data.

Enter ?TADA_GetATTAINS into the console to review another example of this function in use and additional information.

TADA_ViewATTAINS()

This function visualizes the raw ATTAINS features that are linked to the TADA Water Quality Portal observations that are generated in TADA_GetATTAINS() when return_sf = TRUE. For the function to work properly, the input dataframe must be the list produced from TADA_GetATTAINS() with return_sf = TRUE. The map also displays the Water Quality Portal monitoring locations used in TADA_GetATTAINS().

Using TADA_ViewATTAINS()

Let's view the data associated with our TADA_with_ATTAINS_list object! Enter ?TADA_ViewATTAINS into the console to review another example query and additional information.

TADA_ViewATTAINS(.data = TADA_with_ATTAINS_list)

When fill_catchments = TRUE, TADA_ViewATTAINS() will also map the without_ATTAINS_catchments:

TADA_ViewATTAINS(.data = TADA_with_ATTAINS_filled)

Enter ?TADA_ViewATTAINS into the console to review another example of this function in use and additional information.

USEPA/TADA documentation built on April 12, 2025, 1:47 p.m.