RMP NewsVolume 3, Issue 2

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Regional Monitoring News, Summer 1997

Contents

Watershed Pilot Study
Wetlands Pilot Study
Five-Year Program Review
Upcoming Presentations
SFEI Staff Profile
USGS Water Quality Data
RMP Calendar
Announcements

A Closer Look of the Watershed-Estuary
Boundary: A Preview of the Watershed Pilot Study

by Rainer Hoenicke

"Why do we see exceedances of water quality objectives in the Estuary?"
was one of the questions posed as early as the second year of the RMP,
after data revealed that certain pollutants exceeded water quality objectives
at many sampling stations. Other questions were: "What can environmental
managers do to reduce pollutant inputs into the Estuary? How are they
best controlled?" Many Program Participants came to the realization fairly
early that the Estuary represents a mixing bowl whose pollutant profile
is reflected by inflow of the two large rivers, local runoff contributions,
waste water discharges, complex sediment resuspension and diffusion processes,
and atmospheric deposition. To make the next step from describing the
pollutant profile in the Estuary to drawing conclusions about general
source categories, and getting from there to pollutant control actions,
pilot studies would have to be undertaken. 

The Watershed Pilot Study is the first one of these with the general
goal of determining if the pollutant spectrum from runoff contributions
can be differentiated from that of nearby RMP stations in the South
Bay. We recognized that prior to starting an expensive sampling program,
more specific assessment questions should be selected which could then
guide a targeted information review. Therefore, only one station at
the watershed-Estuary interface was initially selected for water and
sediment sampling. Approximately 20 people interested in this project
developed a prioritized matrix of assessment questions which served
as the foundation of an information review, released as a draft report
in November 1996 it is scheduled to be included in the 1996 Annual
Report
. The report identifies data gaps and, together with the first
year's sampling results, could identify additional or alternative sampling
needs. 

In 1996, a sampling station (Standish Dam) was selected on Coyote Creek,
very close to Dixon Landing Road and Highway 880 where the city boundaries
of Fremont, Milpitas, and San Jose converge. This location is within
the tidal prism of the creek. During last winter's...