Fast Fact
The river's salmon fishery alone generates over $100 million annually
The river's salmon fishery alone generates over $100 million annually

View the Water Quality Compendium

View the major water quality monitoring programs in the Sacramento River watershed

(Above) Monitoring on Pit River.

SRWP Monitoring Data is Online


The SRWP monitoring data from 1998 - 2001 is available online at the Calif. Dept. of Water Resources Bay-Delta Tributaries. This website was launched in February 2004 and is continuing to be improved and expanded. SRWP data is summarized here and is available for download here.

Current SRWP Monitoring Efforts

Below is a list of water quality monitoring efforts by the SRWP, and managed by the SRWP Watershed Monitoring Committee.

Program/Description SRWP Leads
Partners		 Funding Source
Funding Amount		 Timeline Status
1. Support Watershed Monitoring Committee
The Watershed Monitoring Committees (formerly the Monitoring & Toxics Subcommittee) meeting bi-monthly to provide stakeholder input to the SRWP Monitoring Program and technical services they offer. The SRWP supports the Watershed Monitoring Committee by funding meeting coordination, facilitation, and note taking. The SRWP website also provides information on Watershed Monitoring Committee meetings and work products. SRWP Lead:
Otis Wollan

Tech support: Larry Walker Associates, Regional Board

 Funding Source:
EPA/SRCSD Phase IX & Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Program

Funding Amount:
$20,000 		Aug. 2005 – Dec. 2007 Otis Wollan is funded to facilitate the Watershed Monitoring Committee.
2. Support Delta Tributaries Mercury Council (DTMC)
The DTMC meets bi-monthly to provide a forum for mercury experts and resource managers from various organizations to update each other on cutting-edge mercury research and public outreach projects. The DTMC also works to implement the DTMC Mercury Strategy which addresses gaps in mercury research, education and control measures. The SRWP supports the DTMC by funding meeting coordination, facilitation, and note taking. The SRWP website also provides information on DTMC meetings and work products. SRWP Lead:
Mary Lee Knecht

Tech support: Larry Walker Associates, Regional Board

 Funding Source:
Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Program

Funding Amount:
$22,500 		Apr. 2005 – Dec. 2007 Mary Lee Knecht is funded to facilitate the DTMC.
3. SRWP Mainstem River Monitoring
The SRWP conducts extensive water quality, toxicity, and some fish tissue monitoring on 13 sites along the mainstem Sacramento River, major tributaries, and representative ag and urban drainages. In 2006 and 2007 the SRWP will conduct water quality monitoring for 9 events per year and will produce annual monitoring reports. SRWP Lead:
Kathy Russick, LWA, Pacific EcoRisk

Partner:
SVWQC, Regional Board, Sacramento Sanitation District, City of Redding, CUWA

 Funding Source:
Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Program

Funding Amount:
$1,011,690 for 2 years of monitoring 		Mar. 2006 – Aug. 2007 Contract with LWA signed. Working on contract with Pacific EcoRisk. LWA developing QAPP and monitoring plan for review by Regional and State Boards.
4. On-Line Water Quality Database
Starting in the mid-1990s SRWP began working with DWR to develop an on-line statewide water quality database. That BDAT database was launched in Feb. 2004 and included all SRWP water quality monitoring data. LWA now enters all SRWP water quality monitoring data into the on-line water quality database. SRWP Lead:
LWA

Partner:
Department of Water Resources (DWR)

 Funding Source:
EPA/SRCSD

Funding Amount:
Funding from several phases 		On-going SRWP water quality monitoring data through June 2002 is currently in the BDAT database.
5. Pesticide Modeling
Develop a water quality computer model to model the environmental fate and transport of diazinon in the Sacramento River watershed. The model identifies and quantifies important regional sources of diazinon and to evaluates the feasibility of best management practices (BMPs) to reduce diazinon concentrations. The model was developed in the first phase of the project and simulations using actual diazinon application and monitoring data from 1992-2001 was conducted on the Butte Main Drainage Canal, a 38,000-acre sub-watershed. The simulations compared historical diazinon levels to simulations placing various BMPs throughout the sub-watershed based on new regulatory label changes. Substantial reductions (up to 50%) in diazinon levels were found with strategically located BMPs. These kind of modeling results can be helpful to growers in locating real BMPs on their properties. SRWP Lead:
Debra Denton, EPA

Partner:
Waterborne Environmental

 Funding Source:
EPA/SRCSD Funding from from several phases

Funding Amount:
$116,000 in 4 phases of funding 		Phase 4 scheduled to end Spring 2007 The scope for Phase 4 is being developed.
6. PRISM Grant Project
Due to increasing regulatory restrictions on organophosphate pesticides (OPs), pyrethroid pesticides have replaced OPs for many residential and agricultural uses. There is little information on the environmental impacts and risks associated with the increased use of pyrethroids. The purpose of this study to: 1) determine environmentally levels of pyrethroids in aquatic sediments of ag- and urban-dominated waterbodies; 2) determine if these levels approach toxic thresholds; 3) promote awareness of sediment-associated pesticides and demonstrate the analytical feasibility of studying this group; and 4) provide data needed to direct mitigation efforts is they are deemed necessary. SRWP Lead:
Kathy Russick

Partner:
UC Berkeley, Dr. Donald Weston & Erin Amweg

 Funding Source:
Prop 13 PRISM Grant

Funding Amount:
$190,000 		Aug. 2004 – Mar. 2007 This project is nearing completion.
7. Unknown Toxicity Study
Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) methods exist for many toxicants found in Sacramento River watershed samples. Occasionally aquatic toxicity is detected without the chemical causing the toxicity being identified due to limited TIE methods. This is a study to be done in coordination with other Regional Board studies to develop new TIE methods to identify toxicity due to pyrethroid insecticides. SRWP Lead:
Stephanie Fong, Regional Board

Partner:
Regional Board, Don Weston at UC Berkeley

 Funding Source:
EPA/SRCSD

Funding Amount:
Phase X - $91,000 + ~ $25,000 in additional funding 		Sep. 2005 – Dec. 2006 Additional funding is in the process of being allocated to Dr. Weston’s work to test the assumption that, when multiple pyrethroid insecticides have toxicity associated with them in a sample, their toxicity is additive.
8. USGS Bear River Mercury Monitoring
Conduct mercury monitoring special study on Bear River (in Nevada & Placer counties) in cooperation with USGS at four sites annually on Bear River in accordance with approved QAPP and monitoring plan. Prepare draft and final reports. SRWP Lead:
Kathy Russick

Partner:
USGS, Charlie Alpers

 Funding Source:
Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Program

Funding Amount:
$99,000 		Jan. 2006 – Spring 2007 Project is underway.
9. USGS Soil Methyl-Mercury Potential Study
Conduct sediment manipulation studies to determine mercury bioavailability at four sites (different environments; different sediment types) annually for two years. Sites will be determined through discussions with the DTMC and after review of other studies within the Sacramento River watershed. Sediment will be subjective to different treatments including addition of sulfate, sulfide, iron (3+), iron oxide, and acetate. Methylation and demethylation rates will be determined and as will pore water concentrations of sulfate, iron (2+), sulfide, and acetate. SRWP Lead:
Kathy Russick

Partner:
USGS, Mark Marvin-DiPasquali

 Funding Source:
Prop 50 CALFED Watershed Program

Funding Amount:
$101,000 		Jan. 2006 – Spring 2007 Project is underway.
10. USGS Monitoring of Mercury in Wetland Discharges
Monitor water quality at 3 wetland sites where ongoing studies of mercury methylation potential and bioavailability in sediments will be performed. Water quality monitoring will provide an indication of the extent to which mercury transformation processes in the wetlands may affect downstream water quality with regard to methylmercury. Sites will be selected after discussion with the DTMC. Water quality sampling will include inflow and outflow sites. Water quality analyses will include filtered and unfiltered total mercury and methyl mercury, total suspended solids, major cations, major anions, trace metals, nutrients, and dissolved and particulate carbon. Results of the sampling will be integrated with the results of a sediment study performed by others at USGS. SRWP Lead:
Kathy Russick

Partner:
USGS, Charlie Alpers

 Funding Source:
EPA/SRCSD Phase X

Funding Amount:
$50,000 		Jan. 2006 – Spring 2007 Project is underway.
11.A Regional Monitoring Program for the Sacramento River Watershed
SRWP is launching an effort to develop a long-term, sustainable regional monitoring program for the Sacramento River Watershed. A major portion of the funding for the program must come from the program’s stakeholders. The program is described in more detail in this flyer. SRWP Lead:
Stephen McCord and Mary Lee Knecht		 Funding Source:
A major portion of the funding for the program must come from the program’s stakeholders. The major drivers for monitoring and potential stakeholders are listed in the flyer.		 Ongoing Project is underway.