Stream Team Monitoring On Big Chico CreekBy Timmarie Hamill, The Stream Team
Why Should We Monitor Creeks? Clean water is a crucial resource imperative to protect. Healthy creek systems like Big Chico Creek are integral to the overall function of a healthy and sustainable water system, and are important for providing safe drinking water, ground water recharge, critical habitat for wildlife, and intrinsic scenic value for our community. As population growth in the Sacramento Valley continues to swell, associated sources of urban runoff pollutants from tributaries like Big Chico Creek will become more and more important to pinpoint and control. Cumulative impacts from industrial and urban pollution can stress aquatic systems and impair their beneficial functions. Synthetic materials from our roads and automobiles, fertilizers, sewage leaks, sediment, and animal wastes can flow from the land into waterways. Creek monitoring provides baseline information useful for tracking these real and potential impacts. Information collected now will facilitate the ability to track changes over time and help prioritize efforts for identifying sources of pollutants, and appropriate land use changes needed to minimize impacts. Why Volunteers are EssentialStream Team volunteers have specific training and expertise about our local environment, which is important for reducing urban pollution from entering our waterways. Through their involvement, understanding of the ecological function of creek systems and awareness of the interdependence between humans and natural resources is improved. Volunteers are dedicated and have a proven capacity to accurately and precisely perform monitoring tasks to ensure data quality objectives are achieved. Equally important, volunteers are instrumental in collecting essential data that would not otherwise be available. Stream Team volunteers are part of an effort to understand human impacts on our local creeks and implement mitigating efforts to keep our water clean. Beneficial Uses and Water Quality ObjectivesWater quality control plans (Basin Plans) are required by the California Water Code (Section 13240) and supported by the Federal Clean Water Act. Basin Plans complement water quality control plans adopted by the State Water Board, and are intended to protect beneficial uses (fish and wildlife habitat, drinking water, agricultural and recreational) of rivers and stream by developing water quality objectives and Best Management Practices (BMPs) to protect those uses. The City of Chico, Chico Unified School District, and California State University, Chico are required to develop BMPs useful for reducing pollutants in urban storm water when compared to existing levels in a cost-effective manner. Stream Team volunteers track indicator water quality variables including temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, turbidity, and bacteria to diagnose whether compliance with water-quality standards and targets are being met, and BMPs established are effective in protecting stream health. Education is a key component influencing human caused pollution, and monitoring objectives are linked with watershed and storm water education to encourage public understanding that pollution is washed into street gutters and carried via storm drains untreated into local creeks, which if not managed can harm wildlife, and negatively impact water quality. Copies of the Basin Plan are available on the Regional Water Board's web site. Are Thresholds for Beneficial Uses Being Met?
How You Can HelpStream Team volunteer monitors meet at 9AM at Five Mile Recreation Area, the 2nd Saturday of each month, from April through October. Volunteers provide a snapshot of the health of Big Chico Creek by collecting data at ten different sites during each event. Each team typically monitors one or two of the sites per event. Training is provided. To become a Stream Team volunteer, contact thamill@thestreamteam. org, 530-342-6620. From the Summer 2010 issue of the Environmental News. |
