Quality Assurance/Quality Control - SWAMP Comparability

As the Water Board’s ambient water quality monitoring program, SWAMP is tasked with assisting other monitoring projects and programs with collecting and reporting data that can be utilized by the Water Boards. Permits, grants, waivers and other Water Board monitoring efforts often require monitoring projects to be “SWAMP Comparable,” or meet the Water Boards’ quality and data system requirements for non-surface water projects. These two requirements are equivalent and used interchangeably. To be SWAMP Comparable, projects and programs should share in SWAMP’s goal “to collect and provide data that is well planned and documented, valid and defensible, and supportive of decisions required by California’s Water Quality Control System”. SWAMP achieves this goal through careful project management, data review, and reporting as detailed in the SWAMP Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPrP). SWAMP’s comparability efforts are best summarized as a project lifecycle based on the principles of planning, documentation, implementation, review, and reporting. See the SWAMP Comparability section of the SWAMP 2017 QAPrP. Link to the full 2017 SWAMP QAPrP.

The Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) is tasked with assessing water quality in all of California’s surface waters. The program conducts monitoring directly and through collaborative partnerships; and provides numerous information products, all designed to support water resource management in California.