|
Name of the organization: North San Diego County Watershed Monitoring Program (NSDCWMP) created by Preserve Calavera, a non-profit volunteer-based organization whose mission is to preserve the natural resources of the coastal San Diego North County.
Short description of the organization's activities: In the spring of 2019, Preserve Calavera created the North San Diego County Watershed Monitoring Program (NSDCWMP) to continue the decade-long work of San Diego Coastkeeper (SDCK) of assessing the health of local surface waters. The water quality in three coastal watersheds (i.e., Buena Vista Creek, Agua Hedionda and Batiquitos Lagoons), all of which are part of the Carlsbad Hydrologic Unit (Fig. 1) is evaluated by sampling water at multiple locations on a bimonthly basis and measuring basic physical (conductivity, turbidity), chemical (pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrient, and ammonia), and biological (total and pathogenic coliform bacteria) parameters. In addition, the team has initiated sampling for the analysis of microfibers in conjunction with Dr. Dimitri Deheyn's laboratory at UC San Diego (Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography).
NSDCWMP is an all-volunteer citizen science effort with a leadership management team comprised of two Preserve Calavera board members (also leaders of the Buena Vista Creek and Batiquitos Lagoon monitoring teams). Technical advisors from the California Water Resources Control Board as well as the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board (SDRWCB) provide guidance to the NSDCWMP. Data is posted at www.preservecalavera.org and on the CEDEN website and shared with SDRWCB and the cities of Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Marcos and Vista as needed.
For the 2024-2025 time frame of the project will entailed sampling, filtration and microfiber counting when detected by fluorescence on the filters following the instructions/training used by the Deheyn's UCSD laboratory research team. Initial findings revealed the presence of microplastics in the watershed, hence the potential for toxicity in the food chain.
Data from all measures including the presence of microfibers are reported to local and regional governmental agencies which may use them to make informed regulatory decisions regarding the protection and management of the rivers and streams in our local watersh
| 
