Status and Trends

Next meeting: TBD late 2022 to discuss implementation, potential sediment sampling, and process to recommend S&T budgets for 2024 municipal stormwater permit cycle. Ecology's permit writers have requested a total S&T budget be agreed to at the February 2023 SWG meeting.


The goal of S&T monitoring is to provide a regional assessment of receiving water health, and to evaluate whether collective management actions protect and improve receiving water conditions. SWG coordinates stormwater-related receiving water monitoring and messages with other PSEMP workgroups - particularly, Toxics and Freshwater.


SAM's Status and Trends (S&T) receiving water monitoring occurs in two western Washington regions:

* Puget Sound Lowlands: small streams, and nearshore mussel contaminant monitoring

* Lower Columbia: urban streams


Current work : 

* USGS began conducting Puget Small Streams (PSS) sampling under the new study design in 2020. The pilot study was completed in 2015.

* Clark County began Lower Columbia stream monitoring in 2020, and conducted annual summer sampling starting in 2021. 

* WDFW will conducted the fourth round of mussel monitoring in winter 2021-22; sampling sites will now rotate throughout the Puget Sound nearshore (not limited to Urban Growth Areas). The first 3 rounds completed from 2016-2020 targeted 40 fixed random locations in UGAs.

The first round of SAM receiving water monitoring was completed in 2015-2016. The scientists are finalizing their reports on the status assessment and considering recommendations for future trends monitoring. Puget Sound nearshore sediment monitoring was completed in 2016, and the future study design and planning will be discussed in the next permit term. 

Background

Two status and trends oversight subgroups helped coordinate early ramp-up activities of the status and trends small stream and nearshore monitoring components of the regional stormwater monitoring program now called SAM, or Stormwater Action Monitoring. A group of "SAM S&T Scientists" reviewed the findings of the first round of studies and suggested adjustments to the monitoring design to be implemented for streams in 2019 and for mussels in 2021.   

Key points: