The North San Diego County Watershed Monitoring Program (NSDCWMP) was created 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 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). 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.
|