Save the date – Monday, July 9, 2012 , 9AM to 3 PM – for a workshop to organize a Regional Monitoring Program for the San Joaquin River.
As described at the February 14 Forum Workshop in Modesto, CURES is laying the groundwork for a program to facilitate coordination among public and private entities that currently monitor the San Joaquin River.
Sign-up for the workshop at http://www.curesworks.org/sjRiverWorkshop.asp.
The July 9 meeting will focus on the next steps for organizing a Regional Monitoring Program (RMP). This meeting was tentatively set for June 12 but rescheduled to July 9 due to a Regional Water Board meeting on the 12th.
The next steps for setting up a San Joaquin River RMP include:
– Reviewing draft language for an MOU between interested parties;
– Prioritize issues of interest among entities performing monitoring;
– Discuss priority questions an RMP might consider answering.
Featured at the July 9 workshop will be presentations on organizational components and an initial approach for an RMP followed by breakout sessions to gather feedback from participants on the next steps for the RMP. The expected outcome of the meeting is a list of operating principles and plan to move forward.
A key question to be addressed at the workshop: Are basic descriptors of the system (flow, temperature, conductivity) readily available with the spatial coverage and on the timeframes needed to make management decisions?
Implementing real time management approaches to salts and nutrients (e.g., releasing discharges during times of higher flow) is considered to be a viable approach that needs serious consideration. This issue is a high priority for the Regional Water Board, Bureau of Reclamation, and Department of Water Resources. Real time management of the San
Joaquin River will require:
– ready access to flow and conductivity data that are comparable across
the region;
– have the needed spatial coverage and temporal resolution;
– the information can be efficiently integrated; and
– data can be evaluated with models and other decision support tools.
An agenda for the July 9 workshop will be posted at http://www.curesworks.org/sjRiverWorkshop.asp.
Other documents on the CURES website include:
Strawman Proposal (PDF)
San Joaquin River Regional Monitoring Program – A proposed plan
developed by CURES, US EPA and the State Water Resources Control Board;
Proposed Strategy for San Joaquin River Basin Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment (PDF)
San Francisco Estuary Institute; Thomas Jabusch, Brock Bernstein
Parry Klassen
Executive Director
Coalition for Urban/Rural Environmental Stewardship
559-288-8125
[email protected]