1. From Sewers to Sanddabs: Orange County Sanitation District
Ocean Monitoring Program
Not just the Ocean Team
All LMC division sections are involved (explain)
Dr. Jeff Armstrong
Environmental Supervisor
June 12, 2019

3. Reclamation Plant 1 Treatment Plant 2

4. Program History Began in 1969 Expanded in 1973 with passage of CWA
Rudimentary, mostly water quality
Expanded in 1973 with passage of CWA
Began quarterly sampling for fish trawls, sediment quality, water quality
Intensified in 1985 with 301(h) waiver
Program outsourced (“Fox watching the henhouse”)
Added sediment quality stations, enlarged water quality sampling grid, fish tissue contaminant analysis, fish liver histopathology
Insourced in 1999

5. Regulatory Basis/Mandate
Clean Water Act – National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)
Permit issued in five-year intervals
Codifies the ocean monitoring program (Appendix E)
California Ocean Plan
Issued by State Water Resources Control Board
Controls discharges into the ocean
Anti-degradation mandate
Triennial review (2018)

6. OCSD’s Ocean Monitoring Program Must Demonstrate:
Water Quality – safe to swim
Sediment Quality – healthy ecosystem
Fish health – safe to eat fish
We must demonstrate that these criteria are met with scientifically defensible data.

7. Program Elements Regional Monitoring Strategic Process Studies
Compliance
Monitoring

8. M/V Nerissa Custom built in 2004 58’ long, 69 tons
R/V Yellowfin (SCMI) = $319.3/Hr sampling + 2 hrs for set-up and break-down + transit time from SCMI to sampling and back = $3,832 for a max of 6 hours sampling.
$3,832 x 90 days = $344,844
Custom built in 2004
58’ long, 69 tons
97 days at sea in

9. Water Quality

10. Physical Oceanography

11. Benthic (Sediment) Quality

12. Trawl Communities

13. Fish Health Trawl fish tissue contaminant
Environmental health risk assessment
Rig fish tissue contaminants
Human health risk assessment
Trawl fish liver histopathology
Contractor

14. Toxicology Chronic Whole Effluent Toxicity – Monthly
Acute Whole Effluent Toxicity – Quarterly
Whole Sediment Toxicity – Annually at 10 stations

15. Data Analysis and Reporting
Outfall vs. Reference comparisons
Sediment Quality Triad
Spatial and temporal trending
Multivariate statistical analysis
Geospatial mapping analysis
Delineating outfall impacts from other sources
Aerial deposition of contaminants
Rivers, harbors, and storm channels
Natural environmental variability
El Nino/La Nina
California Current / Decadal Oscillation
Climate change

16. Marine Monitoring Annual Report
Published on March 15th each year
A compliance report
Primary audience are our regulators
Covers all permit-related ocean monitoring activities
Includes SPS and Regional Monitoring
Has changed significantly from 301(h) monitoring to full-secondary treatment monitoring

17. Regional Monitoring Mandated in NPDES permit Value to OCSD
Allows us to put our monitoring results into a regional context
Regional Monitoring Studies:
Bight Studies: Bight’18
SCCOOS: Southern California Coastal Ocean Observation System
CRKSC: Central Region Kelp Survey Consortium
CBWQ: Central Bight Water Quality

18. Strategic Process Studies
Mandated in NPDES Permit
Studies and OCSD level of effort approved by regulators
Two purposes:
Answer questions raised by core monitoring
Address issues of concern to OCSD and/or regulators
e.g., CECs in wastewater/receiving environment, climate change, harmful algal blooms, nutrients, ocean acidification
GWRS Expansion (changes in effluent quality, lower flow rate)
Climate Change (sea level rise, changing ocean temperature, species composition changes)
Mechanisms
OCSD Team
Collaborations
Contractors

19. Future of the Ocean Program
Core Monitoring Paradigm Shift
Less static and more adaptive monitoring
Some current monitoring requirements are either not relevant any longer or are overkill
Goal is to free up agency resources to address more “meaningful” information needs
e.g., GWRS expansion, climate change, ocean acidification, CECs
Changes to monitoring program sought in NPDES Permit renewal

20. Questions?