Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program

The Land to Sea Connection: Water quality impacts on watershed and ocean health Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program Central Coast Water Board

Monterey Bay CCAMP Coastal Confluence Monitoring Measuring watershed outputs to the ocean Santa Maria river mouth Santa Barbara Channel

Santa Maria River – Nitrate (mL as N) 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2001 2003 2004 2000 2005 2006 2002 Coastal Confluence trend monitoring

Marine Protected Areas and CCAMP Coastal Confluences Marine Protected Areas CCAMP Coastal Confluence Sites Data Benefits for MPAs?

Typical pollutants found in surface runoff to the ocean • Nutrients • Pathogens • Sediment • Metals • Pesticides and PCBs • Petroleum hydrocarbons • Other substances, such as phthalates, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Nutrients • Nitrogen forms, phosphate, silicate • Large loads of some nutrients are discharged from agricultural river mouths • Annual nitrate loadings can exceed a 650,000 kg; urea can exceed 20,000 kg (CCLEAN)

Nitrate averages (mg/l as N), north to south CCAMP Coastal Confluences Data

Nitrate % Exceedance of Drinking Water Standard

Nitrate on SLO Coast % exceedance of drinking water standard

Eutrophication • Algal blooms alter habitat, create nuisance • Blue-green algal blooms implicated in recent sea otter deaths • Fish kills result from depressed oxygen concentrations • Nitrate can be present at levels that also cause toxicity to aquatic life

Domoic Acid Poisoning • Pseudo-nitschia has complex nutrient dynamics involving silica, iron, nitrate, urea and other nutrients • Current research indicates anthropogenic nitrate and urea inputs exacerbate blooms and toxicity (R. Kudela and others)

It is still unclear to what extent sources from the land play an impact in marine nutrient dynamics • Long-term Ecological Research Program • Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute • U.C. Santa Cruz • Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve • San Luis Obispo Science and Ecosystem Alliance (SLOSEA) • Central Coast Long-term Environmental Assessment Program (CCLEAN)

Pesticides and other Chemicals Pounds/acre applied to Coastal Confluence Watersheds, North to South DPR 1999 Pounds Applied Per Acre

Toxicity in the lower Santa Maria watershed % of Samples that are toxic

Legacy chemicals in sediment From CCAMP Harbor Report, www.CCAMP.org

DDT (ug/kg) in sand crabs (Northern Santa Cruz County to Santa Barbara County, UCSB 2002)

Perfluorinated chemicals have been associated with sea otter disease (Kannon, et al, 2006) PCBs and PBDEs have been associated with sea otter disease (CDFG, U.C. Davis and CCLEAN, 2007) SLOSEA has found 4-nonylphenol in fish tissue in marine waters Bioaccumulation of Chemicals

Pathogens • Discharged from surface runoff and sewage sources • Serve as sources of infection for humans and marine mammals

Beach Closures • Dry season sampling mandated on beaches with greater than 50,000 visitations per year • San Luis Obispo County Environmental Health Department monitors for fecal coliform and Enterococcus at 19 sites on a weekly basis year-round www.healthebay.org

Fecal Coliform % Exceedance of Water Body Contact Standard

Sea Otters and Pathogens • Sea otters are excellent sentinels of marine water quality health • Recent mortality rates have been very high • Recent research has shown the proportion of sea otters dying from infectious disease has increased in recent years to over 45% • Several of the diseases of concern have implications for human health CDFG Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center and U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine

Protozoal diseases • Toxoplasma, Sarcocystis, Cryptosporidium, and Giardia • Several associated with areas of high freshwater inflow • Oocysts resistant to chlorination • Oocysts concentrated in shellfish • Domestic and introduced species are sources

Bacterial Diseases Salmonella, Vibrio, Campylobacter, and others isolated in sea otters • Several species associated with physical symptoms and death • Some strains identical to human • Risk factors for uptake by mussels include precipitation and sewage sources • Risk factors for otters include fresh water flow and increasing population density

What can be done about all of these problems?

Implementation of Management Practices Education Monitoring Central Coast Irrigated Agriculture Program

Planning to use Nutrient Budget to determine application rates

Chlorpyrifos applications by Cropping Operation

Other new efforts • New AB 885 septic requirements • Timelines for upgrades to WWTPs with waivers of full secondary treatment • Grant funds for storm water infrastructure and maintenance of sewage infrastructure • Large grants for implementing Integrated Regional Watershed Management • New non-point source policy makes all discharges subject to regulation

Low Impact DevelopmentMatt Thompson will discuss in detail… Makes this… Function more like this…

Recent Increases to CCAMP Endowment • Increased site coverage • Addition of metals to monthly suite • More comprehensive coverage of toxicity and bioassessment • Riparian health assessment • “Follow-up” monitoring budget, to solve problems and learn about emerging problems

Other Upcoming CCAMP Work… • Linking water quality trends to land use management • Long term sediment toxicity and chemistry trend monitoring • Developing pollutant loading estimates to the ocean

` Santa Maria Goleta Pt. Conception

Santa Maria Goleta Pt. Conception

Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program