The California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - 2011

MEASUREMENTS  

Click on a Region in the Map below, to see data for that Region.

WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING

The data show that 24% of the taxonomy analyses collected between 1995 and 2009 have been reviewed and the data is now available to be used in water quality assessments. The process to obtain data of known and documented quality takes time as evidenced by recent data collection efforts (2010-2011) that show approximately 14% of the data has been reviewed. Monitoring data are expected to be available in permanent side of SWAMP database for water quality assessment after two years the sampling process started. Collecting taxonomy data is very labor intensive, hence data is expected to be available on the permanent side of the SWAMP database at a much lower rate as compared to other data types.

WHY THIS MEASURE IS IMPORTANT

Monitoring and assessment of the State's surface waters provides data and information to determine the status and trends of their water quality condition. This data and information also allows the Water Boards to establish water quality standards, determine compliance with requirements, guide actions to protect these waters, and evaluate the effectiveness of pollution control efforts. The Water Boards' Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) monitors and assesses the State’s surface waters, directly and through collaborative partnerships, such as with the California Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Fish and Game, to support water resource management. Data from SWAMP is used for many purposes, including the State's water quality assessment report, "Clean Water Act Section 305(b) Report on Water Quality", and the impaired water bodies list, "Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List". Before releasing the data to the public and used in water quality assessment the data must be reviewed for quality control. The SWAMP data review process requires all results for the project to be reported in accordance to the Work Order, the data are checked to ensure they conform to SWAMP Business Rules and Standard Operating Procedures for Data Verification. These steps are important so that the data available to the public are of a known and documented quality.

Unless data are rejected by the laboratory or project management, there are no mechanisms in SWAMP to reject data. A subset of SWAMP data does undergo a secondary level of validation, which include possibilities for rejection. Rejected results are not made available to the public

TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS

• Data Source: SWAMP Database. Period: July 1, 2010-December, 2011. Extracted: January 15, 2012.
• Unit of Measure: Number of Taxonomy Benthic counts and number of results reviewed.
• Data Definitions: Taxonomy results represents counts of a particular taxa identified in the laboratory and collected from a single site on a specific day. These counts may include benthic macro invertebrates, soft algae or diatom taxa.
• Site visits (Including sampling events): A visit to a monitoring station on a given day to make observations, take measurements, and/or collect water samples for analysis (known as a sampling event). Analyses: Samples taken during a site visit may undergo chemical, physical, toxicological, or biological analyses in the field or laboratory. While analyses address a wide range of parameters, from $3 pH measurements to $6,000 toxicity identification evaluations, each analysis reported here is counted the same, regardless of cost or complexity
• References:
  • The Water Board's SWAMP Program
  • Swamp Partnerships
  • The Statewide Monitoring Strategy
• Regional Water Board fact sheets on regional monitoring strategies:
  • Region 1 - North Coast Region
  • Region 2 - San Francisco Bay Region
  • Region 3 - Central Coast Region
  • Region 4 - Los Angeles Region
  • Region 5 - Central Valley Region
  • Region 6 - Lahontan Region
  • Region 8 - Santa Ana Region
  • Region 9 - San Diego Region
• Swamp data are available here
• Is it Safe to Eat Fish and Shellfish From Our Waters?
• Bioaccumulation in Sport Fish Report
• Bioaccumulation Monitoring Report
  

GLOSSARY

Sampling Event

During a site visit, water samples or measurements can be collected from a specific water body site(s) to represent the water body as a whole. These samples are then analyzed for specific parameters, either in the lab or field.

 

 

Taxonomy Results

Taxonomy results represents counts of a particular taxa identified in the laboratory and collected from a single site on a specific day. These counts may include benthic macro invertebrates, soft algae or diatom taxa.

Surface Water

Waters naturally open to the atmosphere such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, estuaries, and ocean. These waters form from collected water on the ground, and are naturally replenished through precipitation and naturally lost through evaporation and sub-surface seepage into the groundwater.

Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP)

Water Board program responsible for coordinating all water quality monitoring conducted by the State and Regional Water Boards. In addition, SWAMP promotes collaboration with other entities by proposing conventions related to monitoring design, measurement indicators, data management, quality assurance, and assessment strategies, so that data from many programs can be used in integrated assessments.

 

( Page last updated:  4/27/12 )