Document Details

Optimizing sampling methods for monitoring pollutant trends in San Francisco Bay urban stormwater

Aroon Melwani, Donald Yee, Alicia N. Gilbreath, Jay A. Davis, Lester McKee | July 1st, 2016


The Small Tributaries Loading Strategy (STLS) focuses on urban stormwater loadings from small tributaries. To date, STLS monitoring has been geared towards determining concentrations and annual loads of PCBs and Hg; the sampling approach has yet to be fully optimized for detecting trends over time. Here, we evaluate the variability and statistical power for detecting future trends in PCBs based on baseline STLS data in the Guadalupe River watershed. The objective was to improve our understanding of the influence of climatic and seasonal factors on baseline stormwater pollutant conditions, and inform refinements to the STLS monitoring design for detecting trends.

Keywords

monitoring, Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, stormwater, water quality