THE STORMWATER MONITORING COALITION: STORMWATER RESEARCH NEEDS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

摘要

In response to growing concerns about the adequacy of existing stormwater monitoringrnapproaches, all of the Phase I municipal stormwater NPDES lead permittees and all of thernNPDES regulatory agencies in southern California recently formed the StormwaterrnMonitoring Coalition (SMC). This coalition is based on a common understanding thatrnexisting scientific knowledge and technical tools are not fully adequate to assist withrnnecessary stormwater management. The SMC goal is to improve the basic knowledgernand tools for creating effective monitoring and assessing efficient managementrntechniques through collaborative, regional research. The SMC’s first action was torndevelop a research agenda to guide their efforts. They convened a panel of both local andrnnationally-recognized experts to identify and prioritize possible research topics and thenrndevelop project descriptions for the highest priority project ideas.rnThe projects identified by the research panel fell into one of three broad categoriesrnincluding developing a stormwater monitoring infrastructure, understanding fundamentalrnstormwater mechanisms and processes, and assessing receiving water impacts. Buildingrna monitoring infrastructure consists of four projects designed to improve comparabilityrnand enhance integration among monitoring agencies. These types of projects includernintegrating and evaluating currently available data, standardization of sampling andrnanalysis protocols, developing a regional data infrastructure, and assessing BMPrneffectiveness. One problem that hinders our ability to manage stormwater effectively isrnour incomplete understanding about the mechanisms and processes that control howrnpollutants move through a watershed. Four projects were identified including developingrna systemwide conceptual model, determining appropriate reference conditions,rndeveloping a regional method for assessing beneficial use condition, and identifyingrnrelative contributions of nonpoint sources of pollutants. Finally, protecting receivingrnwaters is one of the primary objectives of stormwater management. Therefore, sevenrnprojects were identified that relate to identifying receiving water impacts. These projectsrninclude identifying the causes of impacts in receiving waters, developing bioassessmentrnindicators and protocols, developing improved toxicity testing procedures, developingrnrapid response indicators for microbial contamination, developing microbial sourcerntracking protocols, evaluating BMP effects on receiving waters, and developing improved