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

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

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

4 Coastal Confluence trend monitoring Santa Maria River – Nitrate (mL as N) 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 20052006 0 10 20 30 40 50 60

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

6 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)

7 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)

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

9 Nitrate % Exceedance of Drinking Water Standard

10 Nitrate on SLO Coast % exceedance of drinking water standard

12 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

13 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) Domoic Acid Poisoning

14 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)

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

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

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

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

19 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

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

21 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

22 Fecal Coliform % Exceedance of Water Body Contact Standard

23 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

24 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 sourcesDomestic and introduced species are sources

25 Bacterial Diseases 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 Salmonella, Vibrio, Campylobacter, and others isolated in sea otters

26 What can be done about all of these problems?

27 Monitoring Implementation of Management Practices Education Central Coast Irrigated Agriculture Program

28 Planning to use Nutrient Budget to determine application rates

29 Chlorpyrifos applications by Cropping Operation

30 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

31 Low Impact Development Matt Thompson will discuss in detail… Function more like this… Makes this…

32 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

33 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

34 ` Pt. Conception Santa Maria Goleta

35 Pt. Conception Santa Maria Goleta

62 Estimating loads from coastal confluences to ocean Model has supported loading calculations for CCLEAN and several U.C. Davis marine mammal research projects Collaboration with Dr. Jon Largier at U.C. Davis will improve the model (by including current and wind data) Link impacts from watersheds to the ocean environment, and link our activities to those of folks working more directly in the ocean environment.

63 Karen Worcester kworcester@waterboards.ca.gov (805) 549-3333

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

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "1 Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program Central Coast Water Board The Land to Sea Connection: Water quality impacts on watershed and ocean health."— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback

Log in

Auth with social network:

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

Similar presentations

Presentation on theme: "1 Central Coast Ambient Monitoring Program Central Coast Water Board The Land to Sea Connection: Water quality impacts on watershed and ocean health."— Presentation transcript:

Similar presentations

About project

Feedback