Water Quality Monitoring on Pleasant Grove and Curry Creeks: What the data is telling us

1. Water Quality Monitoring on Pleasant Grove and Curry Creeks:What the data is telling us Presented by:Edmund Sullivan – Placer County Planning Department, David Baker – Dry Creek Conservancy, andChristian Carleton – Foothill Associates

2. Presentation Outline • Introduction (Edmund Sullivan) • Monitoring Program Overview (David Baker) • Biological (Christian Carleton) • Habitat • Benthic Macroinvertebrates • Basic Water Quality Parameters (David Baker) • Field Tests • Nutrients & Other Lab Parameters • Extended Water Quality Parameters (Christian Carleton) • Metals • Organics • What is Next? • Questions & Answers

3. Purpose of Water Quality Monitoring Program by Edmund Sullivan • Ecosystem Restoration Plan (ERP) • Collect Baseline Stream Data • Preliminary Watershed Assessment

4. Monitoring Program Overview by David Baker • Selection of Monitoring Sites • Steps to a Reliable Monitoring • Monitoring Equipment Issues • Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) • Field Parameters • Lab Parameters

5. Selection of Monitoring Sites • Historical or current land use (agriculture, municipal, industrial, mining, recreational, etc.) with potential WQ impairment? • Is there previous WQ data that could be used? • Is access safe? • Is permission to cross private property granted? • Is the sample representative of the water body of interest?

6. Map of PG/CC Monitoring Sites

7. Steps to Reliable Monitoring Data • Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) • Standard Operating Procedures • Implement Appropriate Data Management • Independent QA/QC Review • Routine Back-Up of All Monitoring Data • Select/Develop Database • DATAMON (Excel on Steroids) • SWAMP Database (Being Adapted for Watershed Groups) • Develop Calibration Forms & Field Sheets

8. Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) • The QAPP is not only about doing a good analytical job but also being able to prove it • With a qualified staff, watershed groups can produce data on par with professionals • Provide adequate training for all monitoring personnel and have them work under direct supervision of a qualified technical specialist • Specialize work, such as initial equipment calibrations and data review, are best done by the technical staff or trained interns

9. Monitoring Equipment • HydroLab multi-sensor probe • Velocity Meter • GPS • Camera • Field Data Sheets • Sample Collection Bottles

10. Monitoring Equipment Issues • Hydro Lab Probe Purchase Was Delayed • Used Dry Creek Conservancy’s Meters for Initial Monitoring • New Equipment Successful for Second Round

11. Laboratory Sample Analyses • PG/CC Program Recognizes Analytical QA/QC Requirements Met by State Laboratory Certification Process • Select Methods with the Appropriate Quantitation Limits for WQ Parameters • Coordinate with Analytical Laboratory Staff for Timely Processing of Samples • Use Laboratory Containers, Chain-of-Custody Forms and Sampling Instructions

12. Field Parameters • pH • Electrical Conductivity (E.C.) • Turbidity • Temperature • Dissolved Oxygen (D.O.)

13. Laboratory Parameters • Solids (TDS, TSS, Settleable Solids) • Oil & Grease • Alkalinity (Titration Method) • Nutrients (Nitrates, Nitrites, Ammonia-N & Orthophosphate) • Total Organic Carbon (TOC) • Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) • Metals, CAM 17 (ICP-MS Method) • Pesticides (Organophosphorous, Organochlorine & Glyphosate) • Bacteria (Total Coliform and E. coli)

14. Sampling Matrix

15. Biological Monitoring by Christian Carleton • Benthic Macroinvertebrates (BMI) • Habitat Assessment

16. Benthic Macroinvertebrates (Aquatic Insects & Other Critters) • Surveyed upper and lower sections of PG/CC Watershed and selected sites to best reflect typical conditions throughout watershed • Access to private property problematic and finding suitable reaches with riffles difficult • Timing of initial BMI sampling not quite optimal and previous selected sites in the lower watershed were dry

17. Benthic Macroinvertebrates Continued… • Standard CA Stream Bioassessment Procedure (CSBP) not really applicable to low gradient streams • Our expert, Wayne Fields, helped adapt the current State sampling method • Planning an optimal BMI sampling in early spring • Some interesting critters found • Review of preliminary data?

18. Preliminary BMI Results

19. Freshwater Clam

20. Habitat Assessment • Part of the CSBP • Method for placing a numerical value on stream habitat quality • Qualitative assessment of 10 different stream habitat parameters • Completed by committee

21. Habitat Data

22. Basic Physical Water Quality Parameters by David Baker • Field Test • Nutrients • Bacteria • Others

23. Temperature • pH • DO • %DO • Specific Conductance • TDS • Turbidity • Velocity • Depth Field Tests • Basic physical and water quality parameters that can be easily measured with field instruments

24. Field Data

25. Nutrients & Other Basic Parameters • Nutrients used by 1° producers (aquatic plants and algae) • Excess nutrients cause eutrophication • Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) is a measure of the biologically available organic matter • Coliform (bacteria) present in the water

26. Some Laboratory Results • Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate, Settleable Solids and E.coli were below detection limits in all samples analyzed to date

27. Extended Water Quality Parameters by Christian Carleton • Metals • Organics (Herbicides & Pesticides)

28. Metals • Used in various industrial processes • Present in some chemicals used as herbicides and pesticides • Will bioaccumulate • Can be toxic at low levels to certain organisms and people (e.g. mercury)

29. Metals Results

30. Organics (Pesticides & Herbicides) • Contain an organic chain within the molecule • Will adsorb to detritus (benthic organic matter) • Organochlorine Herbicides • Organophosphate Pesticides • Pesticides • Glyphosate (“Round-Up”)

31. What is Next? • Sampling in the Fall, First Flush, Winter • BMI in Spring • Possible Sampling in Spring • Will be reviewing data and update monitoring plan as needed

32. Questions & Answers

33. THANK YOU THE END! www.placer.ca.gov www.foothill.com www.drycreekconservancy.org