Contra Costa County Clean Water Program - Stormwater Quality Monitoring, Creek Status Bioassessment Monitoring and Long-Term Instrumentation Deployment
Contra Costa Clean Water Program (CCCWP) is comprised of twenty-one municipal agencies in Contra Costa County, and whose mission is to fulfill the stormwater mandates of the Federal Clean Water Act. The State of California, through the San Francisco Bay and Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Boards, issued Municipal Stormwater NPDES Permits to Contra Costa County, which are referred to as the Municipal Regional Permit (MRP) and Region 5 Permit, respectively. Monitoring provisions of the MRP and Region 5 Permit allow for regional collaboration to coordinate and conduct monitoring activities. CCCWP is a part of a regional collaborative known as the Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association (BASMAA) Regional Monitoring Coalition.
Since 2011, ADH Environmental and its subcontractors have implemented monitoring requirements of the MRP on behalf of CCCWP, including the following provisions:
C.8.e Stormwater Pollutants of Concern and Long-Term Monitoring
ADH designed, configured, installed and currently operates a remote-controlled, semi-automated stormwater sampling and monitoring station on Lower Marsh Creek near the City of Brentwood that collects turbidity-triggered stormwater samples and logs time-series hydrologic data. Time-weighted composite samples and multiple turbidity-triggered grab samples per event are collected for a wide variety of pollutants and toxicity analyses for four storms per season. To ensure representative sample collection and turbidity monitoring, a dynamically-positioning sampling boom has been installed to house sample intake tubing and instrument sensors. Water-quality and toxicity QA/QC data are assessed in accordance to the Regional Monitoring Program’s (RMP) Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) by ADH prior to integration into the Regional Monitoring Coalition’s (RMC) database. In 2014, ADH assumed the task of submitting these data to the California Environmental Data Exchange Network (CEDEN) on behalf of the program.
C.8.c Creek Status Bioassessment Monitoring
Lead by Applied Marine Sciences (AMS) and including expertise from Bioassessment Services (BAS) and Cressey and Associates (CA), Creek Status investigations are performed annually at ten rotating tributaries to San Francisco Bay within Contra Costa County. To derive stream reaches assessed, ADH performs desktop reconnaissance of potential sites using GIS-based software and assists in securing site access. The surveys include benthic macroinvertebrate sampling and analysis; physical habitat assessments; algae sampling and analysis; stream-walk surveys; water-quality instrument deployments; and sampling for water quality parameters, aquatic toxicity, sediment toxicity, and pathogen indicators. Data are managed through rigorous data verification and qualification protocols by ADH prior to integration into the Regional Monitoring Coalition’s (RMC) database.
Additional Related Services
- Editorial comments on RMC monitoring plans, SOPs, field manuals, QAPPs, and the BASMAA Small Tributaries Loading Strategy Multi-Year Plan (MYP).
- Support the RMC by participating in various BASMAA sponsored meetings, including the Small Tributaries Loading Strategy Workgroup; Monitoring and POC Committee; Monitoring Design Workgroup; and the Sources, Pathways and Loadings Workgroup.
- Authored the 2012 POC/Long-term Trends Stormwater SAP in accordance with the Small Tributaries Loading Strategy MYP, RMC QAPP, and MRP.
- ADH, CA and Armand Ruby Consultants co-authored the 2012, 2013, and 2014 Local Urban Creeks Monitoring Reports with contributions from Cressy and Associates..
- Performing Stressor Source Identification (SSID) Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) Studies in 2013 and 2014, including draft SAP based upon Work Plan as written by ARC with technical TIE design support provided by Pacific EcoRisk (PER).
Creek Status Biaoassessment monitoring and sampling requires expertise from several ADH team members.