Monitoring Southern California's Coastal Waters (1990)

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4 Monitoring and Research in The Southern California Bight The relationship between research and monitoring activities in the Southern California Bight is complex, making it difficult to arbitrarily and consistently distinguish between the two. In this report, monitoring generally refers to repeated measurements taken to comply with specific regulations: research refers to measurement and experimental programs undertaken to answer more open ended questions. In the panel's view, monitoring and research are complementary activities that support each other and that both provide important information needed for resource management. Often the same agency will fund and/or direct both monitor- ing and research. Monitoring results have stimulated research programs, and research results have provided information that has been helpful in re- ducing impacts and refining monitoring requirements. In addition, research activities are often an integral part of monitoring programs in the bight. Although this chapter reviews research and monitoring programs sep- arately, it is important to remember the significant links and interactions between the To activities. These links exist because both monitoring and research are concerned with measuring and understanding processes of marine environmental change. In general, monitoring in the bight is focused on four broad areas of concern: 1. the effects of effluent from municipal sewage treatment plants; 2. the effects of effluent from other sources, such as power plants refineries, and nonpoint sources; 54

ss 3. the status of resources such as fisheries and kelp beds; and 4. effects on public health from water contact sports. Although these are useful organizing principles, in reality specific programs overlap the boundaries between them. Monitoring related to each of these four concerns is complemented by active research programs. The main characteristic of research and monitoring activities in the bight is their broad diversity. Federal, state, and local agencies, along with universities and private industry, are active members of the research and monitoring community. This diversity stimulates innovation and careful evaluation of research and monitoring results, but it also makes coordina- tion and integration of monitoring more difficult. THE MONITORING SECTOR lithe four monitoring areas described above reflect the existing regu- lato~y environment (Chapter 3), with each kind of monitoring responding to a different set of laws, regulations, permits, and limitations. (A com- prehensive review of past and present monitoring programs can be found in SCCWRP, 1988.) Effluent discharge and monitoring are controlled by National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, which can contain effluent limitations (pertaining to the effluent) and water qual- ity objectives (pertaining to the receiving waters). In California, these are determined by EPA, based on provisions of the Clean Water Act, as amended (CWA), and by the regional water quality control board issuing the permit, based on the California ocean and thermal plans (State Water Resources Control Board, 1975, 1987~. Effluent limitations are specific nu- merical standards; water quality objectives include both numerical (liable B of the California ocean plan) and narrative standards (such as degradation of the environment). The numerical effluent limitations are a combination of federal and California ocean plan (State Water Resources Control Board, 1987) reg- ulatory requirements and are based primarily on consideration of current available technology (the technically or financially most feasible level of contaminant removal attainable). Effluent limitations may be stated as maximum acceptable concentrations of a constituent in the effluent or as the maximum allowable mass emission per day. For thermal effluents, for example, the maximum allowable difference in temperature between the effluent plume and the receiving waters at 1,000 It from the outfall or diffuser is 4°C (California thermal plan iState Water Resources Control Board, 19753~. Compliance with such effluent limitations is determined directly by analysis of effluent at specified intervals. The water quality objectives are also determined according to federal laws and regulations and California ocean plan requirements (State Water

56 Resources Control Board, 1987~. They are numeric or narrative expressions of the maximum allowable changes in various environmental parameters that will not result in serious or long-term damage to the affected marine ecosystem. Numeric objectives define allowable concentrations of waste constituents after allowing for mixing within the zone of initial dilution (ZID), the region within a specified horizontal distance from the end of an outfall or any point along a discharge diffuser. The horizontal distance is usually equal to the water depth at the discharge. In contrast to establishing numeric objectives, demonstrating compliance with the narrative water quality objectives can be difficult. It is based on periodic monitoring of environmental conditions in the vicinity of the effluent discharge, and criteria used to measure compliance with these narrative objectives are often subjective and inferential. In contrast to tom stem of effluent monitoring, resource monitoring is structured around compilation of commercial and sport catch statistics and studies of the status of particular stocks. Routine health effects monitoring measures concentrations of bacterial indicators (e.g., coliforms) along beaches to determine whether to close sections of the coast to body contact sports. The following sections describe monitoring activities related to the major sources of effluent and habitat change in the bight. Municipal Discharges There are 16 municipal wastewater dischargers operating under NPDES permits in the bight (Table 4-1~. Of these, only the discharges in Goleta, Orange County, and Encina have received waivers under Sec- tion 301(h) of the Clean Water Act, as amended. Encina voluntarily relinquished its waiver in 1988. The largest of the 16 discharges are oper- ated by the city of Los Angeles (Hyperion), the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County (White Point), the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County, and the city of San Diego (Point Loma) (Southern Califor- nia Coastal Water Research Project iSCCWRP], 1987~. (Detailed histories of the regulatory actions and monitoring programs at each of these four large discharges can be found in SCCWRP, 1988.) In general, monitoring evolved from measurements of fecal contamination in the nearshore zone to more comprehensive assessments of environmental conditions over a broader area. Ibble 4-1 summarizes the required monitoring programs at each mu- nicipal discharge in the bight. The wide variety in monitoring requirements among these discharges reflects differences in the size of each discharge, the levels of contaminants present, and the nature of the nearby marine environment (e.g., presence of kelp beds or other valued resources). In

57 addition, permits were granted at different times, and their requirements reflect improvements in knowledge about the environment and changes in regulatory emphasis. Differences among monitoring programs also stem from the diverse orientations of the four regional water quality control boards that administer NPDES permits in the bight. These are the Central Coast, Los Angeles, Santa Ana, and San Diego regional boards. Boards dif- fer in their staffing, level of experience, and responsiveness to local issues. As described in Chapter 3, the regional boards are relatively autonomous. The current monitoring programs at two large municipal discharges, along with their historical contexts and existing permit conditions, are described in detail below. This will illustrate how monitoring has developed, as well as the relationship among regulatory requirements, public concerns, monitoring programs, and management decisions based on monitoring data. County Sanitation Districts of Orange County The County Sanitation Districts of Orange County (CSDOC) currently provide service to more than 2 million people in 23 of the county's 26 cities (CSDOC, 1987; SCCWRP, 1988~. Leo treatment plants, one at Fountain Valley and the other at Huntington Beach, process about 255 million gal/day of waste water. About 80 percent of the flow is from residential and commercial users, and 20 percent from industry. The effluent, consisting of about 40 percent primary treated and 60 percent secondary treated waste water, is discharged through an outfall 5 mi from shore in 200 It of water on Huntington Beach. The discharge at Orange County was initiated in the 1920s with screened effluent disposed of a short distance into the surf near the mouth of the Santa Ana River. In 1949, bacterial monitoring along the beach within 5 mi of the discharge was instituted at the request of the state health department. In the mid 1950s, expanded treatment facilities and a new outfall that discharged approximately 1 mi offshore were constructed. As a consequence, the monitoring program was expanded in 1960 to include offshore sampling of both the water column and sediments. In the late 1960s, sampling at additional nearshore stations was begun, and bacterial monitoring at shoreline stations was increased to 5 days per weeL In 1971, effluent was diverted from the old outfall 1 mi from shore to a new outfall 5 mi from shore. At this time, the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board designed a monitoring program to study the effects of the change. Additional parameters and stations were added to the existing monitoring program. The following year, monitoring of fish populations began with the addition of trawl sampling to the program. The 1974 NPDES permit for the discharge increased the nearshore bacterial monitoring effort and required additional stations and parameters

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60 in the onshore monitoring program. In particular, metals, phenols, biolog- ical oxygen demand (BOD), pesticides, and PCBs were to be measured in offshore sediments. In the late 1970s, this program was amended to reduce sampling for benthic biota to twice yearly instead of quarterly. In 1978, the districts began operating an activated sludge facility at the first of their two treatment plants, and in 1983 at the second. These facilities improved the quality of the wastewater discharge. In 1985, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) granted the CS- DOC a 301(h) variance for a five-year waiver from the complete secondary treatment requirements of the CWN An expanded monitoring program was required as a condition of the NPDES permit issued jointly by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board and EPA Region IX Amble 4-2~. EPA will use the monitoring data to assess whether the 301(h) permit should be renewed upon expiration, while the regional board will use them to determine compliance with the 1983 California ocean plan (State Water Resources Control Board, 1983~. EPA must conduct a public hearing to consider any major changes to the permit conditions. If there is major opposition to such changes, they may not be allowed. Regional board action is also required for any substantive modification of the permit conditions. As described above, the NPDES permit contains effluent limitations and water quality objectives. It also contains specific provisions and time tables for meeting the limitations of the permit and submitting various reports. lithe overall objectives of this 301(h) monitoring program, as specified by EPA (1987) and 40 CFR 125.62, are to: · determine compliance with NPDES permit terms and conditions; · document short- and long-term effects of the discharge on receiving waters, sediment, biota, and on beneficial uses of the receiving water; and · assess the effectiveness of tomes control programs that limit dis- charge of toxic chemicals to the receiving waters. Ib accomplish these objectives, the permit (No. CA0110604) specifies several kinds of monitoring (Table 4-2) and their objectives (Table 4-3~. City of Los Angeles The city of Los Angeles' Hyperion treatment plant in Playa del Rey, with a design capacity of 420 million gaVday, is the largest sewage treatment plant discharging treated waste water to the bight (SCCWRP, 1988; John Dorsey, Hyperion Treatment Plant, personal communication). Planning is currently under way to double its capacity. The flow averages approximately 75 percent primary treated and 25 percent secondary treated waste water. Pleated wastes are discharged to Santa Monica Bay through an outfall

61 TABLE 4-2 Summary of the 301O Water Quality Monitoring Program Performed by the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County - Number of stations Replicates/ Program element and frequency station Parameters measured Beach colifonns 17 daily Water quality 9 monthly; 17 quarterly Trawls (demersal 8 semiannually 2 communities) Benthic grabs 13 quarterly; 40 annually Bioacc~nulation ir~fauna 6 annually fish 5 annually epifauna 5 annually Total coliforms (MPN/100 ml) 1 each Temperature, salinity, light trans- every 3 (or 6) m mission, total suspended solids, to bottom ammonia, coliforms, water color, dissolved oxygen, pH Fish/epifauna taxonomy, health, length/weight of 30 species Quarterly-in- Fauna retained on 1 mrn screen, fauna, 3 chem- grain size, oil, cyanide, sulfide, istry; annually volatile solids, metals, extracta 1 infauna, 1 ble organics, pesticides, PCBs, chemistry volatile organics, total organic carbon 5 g tissue total Metals, synthetic organics, pesticides 20~60 specimens Metals, synthetic organics, pesticides 5~58 specimens Metals, synthetic organics, pesticides Fish histo- 8 semiannually 60 specimens Liver histopathology, visual for pathology tumors and lesions Sport fishing 4 semiannually As many as Metals, synthetic organics, pesii survey - possible cides; liver histopathology, visual for tumors and lesions terminating about S mi from shore in about 187 ft of water. Until Novem- ber 1987, digested sludge and secondary effluent in a ratio of 1 to 3 were discharged through an outfall terminating nearly 7 mi offshore at the head of Santa Monica submarine canyon in about 300 It of water. Periodically, during unusually high flows or in emergencies, chlorinated secondary efflu- ent may be discharged through an outfall that terminates 1 mi from shore in 50 It of water. The city of Los Angeles began discharging raw sewage into Santa Monica Bay at Hyperion in 1894, and constructed a central outfall sewer in 1908. At the time, the area was relatively remote and there was minimal awareness about potential health hazards associated with the discharge of raw sewage. The State Department of Health began receiving complaints  about fouled beaches in the vicinity of the discharge by 1912. As a result, an outfall was constructed in 1924 to carry screened effluent 1 mi onshore. However, a break in the outfall pipe 500 ft from shore, a growing urban population, and the need to bypass the screen during storm flows led to

62 TABLE 4-3 Objectives Specified in the NPDES Permit for the 301O Monitonng Program Performed by the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County. Program element Objectives Beach and surf zone Water column Trawls (demersal communizes) Benthic grabs Bioaccumulation (mussels, infauna, fish, epifauna) Fish histopathology Sport fishing survey Assess bacteriological conditions in areas used for water contact sports and shellfish harvest. Determine effectiveness of treatment to remove floatables that affect health and aesthetics. Determine compliance with water quality objectives. Provide data to support inte~pretaiior~ of biology data. Assess presence of balanced indigenous populations of demersal fish and benthic invertebrates. Assess presence of balanced indigenous population of benthic invertebrates. Evaluate physical and chemical quality of the sediments. Determine accumulation of toxic pollutants. Assess prevalence of lesions, tumors, and liver abnormalities in local fish. Monitor uptake of pollutants in fish consumed by humans in order to detennine impact on public health. Assess impacts on local fish populations. repeated recontamination of Santa Monica Bay beaches. This caused the Department of Public Health to close beaches near Hyperion in Santa Monica Bay from 1946 to 1951 due to bacterial and grease contamination. These continued problems with bacterial and aesthetic contamination led to legal action that resulted in construction of a larger outfall and a secondary treatment system in 1950 (Gerber and Wada, 1988~. Heated effluent and about 50 percent of the sludge were discharged to the bay, and reduced levels of contamination allowed the beaches to be reopened in 1951. By 1952, growing public concern about contamination of Santa Monica Bay prompted comprehensive investigations by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the University of Southern California's (USC) Allan Hancock Foundation. The studies' objectives were to determine the bay's physical and biological conditions, sources and magnitude of pollution, and optimal design and location for deep-water outfalls. Based on data showing that bacterial contamination never traveled more than 5 mi along the beach  in either direction from the outfall, a 5 ml-long effluent outfall was built

63 in 1959. Prior to that, a 7 ml-long outfall had been built in 1957 to carry sludge to the head of Santa Monica Canyon. Monitoring began coincident with the closure of public beaches in 1946, when routine daily surf and water column monitoring for coliforms was initiated by the Department of Public Health. This program was later incorporated into the monitoring mandated by the Regional Water Quality Control Board, and in 1956 was expanded to include additional water column and shoreline stations throughout the bay. This was the first such marine monitoring program in Southern California. Hyperion's monitoring program was significantly enlarged in 1974, with the issuance of the plant's NPDES permit by the EPA and the state and regional water quality control boards. This permit required monitoring of infauna, some sediment chemistry, and water column bacteria. In 1980, the city signed a consent decree to cease sludge discharge to the ocean by February 15, 1986 (later extended to December 31, 1987~. In 1982, the city of Los Angeles applied for a 301(h) waiver from the requirements to convert to secondary treatment, which EPA initially approved. The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board did not concur, and a waiver was not issued. However, in 1984 monitoring requirements under the existing NPDES permit were increased with the addition of trawling and replication at several benthic stations both within and outside the ZID of the 5-ml outfall. Hyperion received a new NPDES permit in 1987 that included a greatly expanded and modified monitoring program (Bible 4-4~. The overall objectives of the Hyperion monitoring program differ somewhat from those of the Orange County program, partly because Hy- perion is not operating under a 301(h) waiver. The overall objectives of this NPDES monitoring program are to: determine compliance with NPDES permit terms and conditions; and determine that state water quality standards are met (40 CFR 122.41[il and 12.48tbi. As in Orange County's permit, subsidiary objectives are specified that generally parallel those described in Able 4-3. However, Hyper- ion's NPDES permit (No. CA0109991) contains one important difference. It incorporates language stating that the monitoring program may be mod- iSed based on information generated by the program. This is an important source of flexibility that is discussed in greater depth in Chapter 6. Specif- ically, the permit states: Once an adequate background database is established and predictable relation ships among the biological, water quality, and effluent monitoring variables are demonstrated, it may be appropriate to revise the monitoring program. Revisions may be made under the direction of the EPA and the Regional Board at any time during the permit term, and may indude a reduction or increase in the

64 TABLE 4-4 Monitoring Program for Hyperion (1987) Monitoring program Parameters Frequency Shoreline water Total and fecal coliforms, enterococcus, Daily quality (17 stations)- temperature, visual observations Nearshore water Total and fecal coliforms, enterococcus, Weekly quality (11 stations) temperature, DO, transmissivity profiles, visual observations Above parameters plus suspended solids, Monthly oil and grease Offshore water Profiles for DO, temperature, salinity, pH, Weekly quality (25 stations) visual observations Microlayer (12 Profiles for transmissivity and trans- Monthly stations) patency; discrete samples for ammonia nitrogen, suspended solids, TOC, oil and grease Sediment chemistry Three replicate samples for oil and grease 3 times per year (39 stations) and TOC (subset of 7 stations) TOC, IS, oil and grease, grain size, 122 Annually priority pollutants (one sample) Sediment biology Three replicate samples for above Quarterly (39 stations) sediment parameters (subset of 7 stations) Macrofaunal community analysis (one Semiannually sample) Quarterly Demersal fish and Five replicates for macrofaunal community Quarterly macroinvertebrates analysis (trawling) (6 stations) Duplicate trawls for community analysis Semiannually Contaminants in Three replicates for priority pollutants in Semiannually sport fish (rig- tissues of hon~yhead turbot and fishing) (2 sites) ridgebacked prawn Three replicate samples for priority pollutants in muscle of selected sport fish DO = dissolved oxygen; TOC = total organic carbon (amble 4-4)

65 number of parameters to be monitored, the frequency of monitonng, or the number and size of the samples collected. In addition to this permit language related to flexibility, the Hyperion program also includes a chemical sampling plan that allows monitoring resources to be used more efficiently. In the first year of the program, the entire list of priority pollutants is sampled in the effluent, the sediments, and selected organisms. In the second and third years, only those pollutants found during the first year are sampled for. Then in the fourth year, the entire list of pollutants is sampled for again. The rationale for this approach was to focus monitoring effort on those pollutants that occur in the effluent and the environment. Coastal Power Plants The history of monitoring of heated cooling water discharges from coastal electric power plants is much less involved than that for sewage dis- charges. Conventional generating stations on the shore of the bight were all completed before 1971. Between 1971 and 1973, thermal effects monitor- ing programs were required by the regional boards. Temperature profiles were measured in the water column; sediment grain size distribution was measured; and infauna, epifauna, plankton, and nekton communities in the vicinity of the outfalls were investigated. Some power plants contin- ued these studies on their own through 1978, but others monitored only entrainment of fish in the water intakes. At the Encina generating station, a study of effects of thermal discharges on the giant kelp community was initiated in 1975 and continued through 1986. In 1978, new NPDES permits were issued and annual monitoring programs were begun at most power plants (Table 4-5~. As described below (see "The Research Sector"), the Southern California Edison Com- pany (SCE) maintains an extensive program of special studies to develop information to supplement that gained through the monitoring programs. San Onopre Nuclear Generating Station The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), located on the coast south of San Clemente, includes three units: Unit 1 was put in operation in 1968, and Units 2 and 3 came on line in 1985. The three reactors have enormous cooling-water requirements. The once-through seawater cooling system takes in approximately 6,300 m3/s from nearshore intakes. The diffusers for Units 2 and 3 are unique to the bight. Each is approximately 0.~mi long. In order to meet California thermal plan (State Water Resources Control Board, 1975) requirements, they were designed to entrain a volume of water 10 times the original discharge flow.

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68 The resultant plume is directed offshore and has been shown to severely influence nearshore circulation patterns in the vicinity of the plant. Marine monitoring at SONGS has been more intensive than that at other coastal power plants. The programs carried out at SONGS have been unique in the bight in terms of the intensity of monitoring devoted to a single discharge. Monitoring and special studies have been performed continuously at the site since 1963. In 1964, baseline environmental monitoring was per- formed prior to operation of Unit 1. These included profiles of temperature and water clarity in the water column; measurements of local ocean cur- rents; and characterization of intertidal, subtidal hard bottom, and kelp communities. In 1974 and 1976, monitoring determined the environmental effects of sand disposal and dredging for emplacement of the Units 2 and 3 outfalls. In 1976, the San Diego RWQCB issued NPDES permits, includ- ing receiving-water monitoring requirements, for all three units. Current NPDES monitoring requirements are summarized in Able 4-5. Along with these NPDES monitoring requirements, SCE is obligated to carry out further monitoring by other agencies. Impingement of fish in the intakes is monitored for the California Department of Fish and Game. Periodic monitoring of radionuclides is required by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Most monitoring occurs within 6 mi of the plant, with refer- ence stations at 30 or 37 mi. Direct radiation is monitored continuously; airborne radiation is monitored weekly; ocean water is monitored monthly; beach sand and bottom sediments are monitored twice a year; and tissues of nonmigratory marine animals are monitored quarterly. In addition, the California Coastal Commission required Southern California Edison to form the Marine Review Committee. This indepen- dent committee was established in 1974 by the California Coastal Zone Conservation Commission (now called the California Coastal Commission) in response to controversy about, and as a condition of, the permit for discharge of cooling water from SONGS Units 2 and 3. The specific re- sponsibility of the committee was to protect marine life and resources from potential or actual damage directly related to the design and operation of the cooling water system of Units 2 and 3. Its studies focused on four areas: 1. determining the effects of SONGS Unit 1 on the marine environ ment, 2. predicting the erects of Units 2 and 3 on the marine environment and recommending needed design changes in the cooling water system to the California Coastal Commission,

69 3. detaining the effects of SONGS Units 2 and 3 by performing both pre- and post-operational monitoring programs, and 4. investigating possible mitigation and enhancement measures for any damage encountered. An important feature of the committee was its authority to make recommendations about operational and design changes to the cooling system, up to and including the construction of cooling towers. The Marine Review Committee's program was noted for intense and comprehensive investigations, length of time committed to the study, and magnitude of total expenditures. Virtually all aspects of the marine envi- ronment near SONGS were investigated, including soft- and hard-substrate benthos, ichthyoplankton and adult fish, kelp beds, phytoplankton, zoo- plankton, epibenthic plankton, and the physical and chemical oceanography of the coastal zone. Investigations began in 1974, and study designs were, in most cases, firmly established by 1979. The resulting data sets cover eight years, and total expenditures for the program through production of the final report are estimated to be $47 million. The committee's studies are unique among large monitoring programs in the bight in several important ways. First, the program was several times larger than any other monitoring program in the bight. Second, because the MRC was an independent entity, program designs could be adapted as needed. Third, monitoring plans were deliberately devised to detect pre- determined amounts of change. Finally, repetitive, time series monitoring was integrated with modeling and research to constantly improve the ability of the monitoring programs to detect change. Field work on nearly all projects was completed in December 1986, and final contractor reports were due in December 1987. The final report of the committee was scheduled for submission to the California Coastal Commission in 1989. Coincident with the end of the committee's studies, Southern California Edison began implementing procedures to make the committee's data available to investigators. Oil Exploration and Production There are few ongoing monitoring programs in the bight associated with oil exploration and production. This is partly because, except for platforms in the Santa Barbara Channel, the nearshore THUMS project in Long Beach, and the Aminoil project in Huntington Beach, there is no oil production in the nearshore regions of the bight. In addition, there are relatively few refineries along the coast discharging directly into the ocean. Finally, further exploration in the offshore regions of the bight has been delayed pending resolution of conflicts between the state and the

70 federal government over oil and gas development policy for California's outer continental shelf. EPA Region IX is considering the establishment of a monitoring pro- gram in the Santa Barbara Channel where extensive oil production occurs. The program's objectives will be to document production impacts from existing platforms and follow recovery after drilling ends. The THUMS project in Long Beach monitors a range of water column and sediment parameters at six stations. Sampling began before disposal. In the water column, salinity, temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen are measured con- tinuously, while heavy metals, oil and grease, suspended solids, cyanides, and organohalogens will be monitored quarterly during the first two years of the program. In the sediments, a range of parameters- including barium, EPA priority pollutants, grain size, petroleum hydrocarbons, and BOD- will be monitored semiannually. The Aminoil project in Huntington Beach measures grain size, barium, and heavy metals, and collects five replicate cores for infauna analysis at six sediment sites annually. In Carpinteria, in the northern region of the bight, Chevron monitors water column, sediment, infauna, and epifauna parameters annually at four stations in the vicinity of the discharge from its wastewater treatment plant. The plant discharges 0.6 million gaVday of treated oil process waste. Water column variables measured include temperature, transmissivity, dissolved oxygen, phi, and ammonia. Sediment variables measured include sulfides, grain size, heavy metals, BOD, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, nitrate, oil and grease, and aromatic hydrocarbons. Infauna samples are identified to species, biomass is measured, and large epifaunal algae are identified. Chevron also operates a refinery at E1 Segundo, in Santa Monica Bay. Organic matter is measured annually at two offshore sediment stations. In the water column, temperature, oil and grease, dissolved oxygen, and pH are measured monthly at four shore stations and two offshore stations. Ocean Dumping and Dredge Disposal There are no long-term ocean dumping monitoring programs for off- shore sites in Southern California. Ocean dumping in the bight is currently limited to dredge material disposal. TNO of the three active dredge dump- sites (LA2 and LAS) have only been sampled as part of the EISIEIR process to designate them as permanent disposal sites. The first environmental sur- vey of the third site (LA3) is currently in progress. The designation of LA2 and LA5 dump sites expired at the end of 1988, leaving only LA3 available to receive material from new projects. Routine ocean monitoring at the dump sites is under consideration by both EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Dredge permit applications do not require monitoring at the dumpsite.

71 They do require chemical, bioaccumulation, and bioassay testing at the dredging site, in order to determine the suitability of the material for ocean disposal. Nonpoint Sources Nonpoint sources of contaminants are those that are diffuse or poorly defined. They include rainout or fallout from the air, surface runoff from land, and multiple small inputs, such as those from individual houses, busi- nesses, and farms. Monitoring nonpoint source contamination is difficult precisely because it is so diffuse. It is technically challenging both to moni- tor such contaminant input and to clearly identify sources of elevated levels found in the environment. Nonpoint sources are attracting greater attention from both regulatory agencies and the public, with most of this attention devoted to storm drains and riverine input. As a result of a steady decrease in the mass emissions from coastal wastewater treatment plants, mass emissions of some chemicals from stormwater runoff now approach those in effluents from coastal wastewater treatment plants Cable 4-6~. As described in Chapter 1, precipitation in Southern California is highly seasonal. As a result, during dry periods a significant percentage of riverine flow can be composed of secondary and tertiary treated municipal wastewater from inland sewage treatment plants. Such inland treatment plants discharging to the Los Angeles or San Gabriel rivers may have flows in the range of 20 to 100 million gaVday. As Garber (1987) points out, stormwater and riverine drainage en- ters the nearshore zone directly, while treated municipal wastewater is discharged 2 to 7 miles offshore, usually in deep water (about 100 It). Potential impacts on recreational beaches may therefore be greater from land runoff than from offshore discharge of treated waste water. In spite of these potential impacts, there is presently no mandated responsibility for monitoring land runoff. Individual county agencies re- sponsible for stormwater systems may voluntarily perform such monitoring. For example, in Los Angeles County the County Department of Public Works monitors drainage facilities, and in Orange County such monitoring is performed by the County Environmental Management Agency. The only existing statutory basis for managing storm drainage systems is the NPDES permit program. However, agencies with overall management responsibility for stormwater drainage systems (e.g., Department of Public Works) are not now required to administer NPDES permits granted by other agencies for the multitude of individual discharges to the drainage system. There is thus no clear responsibility to monitor the drainage system itself or its discharges to the ocean.

72 TABLE 4-6 Estimated Average Emissions in Metric Tons Per Year of Several Constituents from the Los Angeles River and from the Two Largest Municipal Sewage Treannent Plants Discharging to the Southern California Bight Los Angeles River Cons;tin~ent 1971/1972 1979/1980 1984/1985 ~Hypenonb - Total extracta ble organics---6,400 28,600 7,860 13,200 Total ali phaucs------ 270 --- -- Naphthalenes------ 0.29 --- -- Polynuclear aromatics------ 2.4 --- -- Total DDT0.270.10 0.02 0.22 0.02 Total PCBs0.750.09 0.01 0.21 < 0.12 Silver< 1.0< 1.0 < 1.0 4.5 12 Cadmium3.71.2 < 1.0 3.8 8.2 Chromium2430 11 53 64 Copper3825 15 43 131 Iron5,06014,700 4,050 --- -- Manganese137188 78 --- -- Nickel2218 5.5 53 49 Lead27345 32 24 41 Zinc153139 81 131 151 Joint Water Pollution Control Plant, County Sanitation Disuncts of Los Angeles County, Palos Verdes, California. Hypenon Wastewater Treatment Plant, City of Lass Angeles, Playa del Rey, Califomia. SOURCE: SCCWRP, 1986c. Currently, nearly all NPDES-permitted discharges to drainage systems in the bight have strict effluent limitations and dischargers are required to do effluent monitoring. For example, all municipal wastewater treatment plants discharging to the river/stormwater system in Southern California measure priority pollutants in effluent semiannually and volatile organics quarterly. The 1987 amendments to the Clean Water Act require more monitoring of stormwater discharges. The Los Angeles County monitoring program provides an example of the type of voluntary monitoring performed by agencies managing stormwa- ter drainage systems in Southern California. Los Angeles County encom- passes a drainage area of 4,100 mi2 with a population in excess of eight million. Drainage of the area, primarily into the Southern California Bight, is provided by several rivers (such as the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers) and an extensive system of underground drains and open channels. The main flows to this system are from:

73 precipitation; · NPDES-permitted discharges of treated industrial and municipal wastewater; · fire-fighting waste water (often containing high concentrations of contaminants); · nuisance water (e.g., washbowl, excess lawn watering, etc.~; · accidental sewer overflows; and daily, weekly, and other periodic plant and site cleanup and wash down from business, commercial, and residential sources. The Los Angeles County Flood Control District (since renamed the Los Angeles Counter Department of Public Works) began monitoring the drainage system in the 1930s because some of the runoff was used for groundwater recharge. In the mid 1960s, the water quality program was expanded to consider ocean disposal of stormwater runoff. The monitoring program was greatly reduced between 1984 and 1987, but much of it was reinstituted in 19~. Water samples are collected during two to four storms per year from 20 stations along rivers, creeks, and drains. Hey are analyzed for inorganic minerals and pH, bacteria (total and fecal coliforms and enterococcus), total petroleum hydrocarbons, 12 heavy metals, total organic carbon, BOD, 8 volatile organic compounds, 15 pesticides, total suspended solids, and volatile suspended solids. Samples from the Rio Hondo Channel and San Gabriel River are also analyzed for priority pollutants. Samples of dry weather (non-storm) flows are collected from 27 stations every month. These samples are analyzed for minerals, bacteria, total petroleum hydrocarbons, heavy metals, and oil and grease. Total organic carbon, BOD, and volatile organic compounds are analyzed quarterly or semiannually. Shoreline Erosion and Beach Replenishment The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and the California De- partment of Boats and Waterways carry out the Coast of California Storm and Tidal Wave Program. This is intended to be a long-term program to develop baseline information on changes in beach profiles and ocean conditions along the California coast. The data will be used to monitor beach erosion and to assist in planning beach replenishment activities. Approximately 60 sites between Oceanside and the U.S.-Mexican bor- der were monitored semiannually between 1983 and 1988. Profiling efforts are expected to move to Orange and Los Angeles counties for the next five years. Semiannual monitoring of beach profiles in association with a sand bypass project at Oceanside Harbor has occurred since 1985 and may continue in the future.

74 A related program is carried out by the Ocean Engineering Research Group at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, which monitors wave climatology at ten nearshore and offshore sites in Southern California. This project has collected over 10 years' worth of data for use by mariners and in coastal physical and oceanographic studies. The project is funded by the U.S. Army COE and the state of California. Resource Monitoring Resource monitoring is the responsibility of the California Department of Fish and Game, which collects information on sport and commercial fish catches and on exploitation of kelp beds in the bight. The present system of collecting catch information is straightforward and is described below, however the history of fisheries monitoring in California is long and complex. It is intimately associated with the California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigation (CalCOFI) program, which is unique for the spatial extent and consistency through time of its investigations into oceanography and fisheries biology. This history is summarized below and recounted in more detail in SCCWRP (1988~. Current Resource Monitoring Commercial fishermen are required to report catch statistics to the Department of Fish and Game. Both fin and shellfish (e.g., abalone, sea urchins, lobsters) are included in these reporting requirements. Finfish catches have been monitored since 1918, and statistics currently include species caught and the location and weight of the catch. Daily logs of sea urchin and lobster catch numbers and locations have been reported for at least the last 10 years. Commercial party-boat operators in the sport fishery are required to keep a log of the number and species of fish caught, number of anglers fishing, hours fished, and area fished. These records have been kept continuously by the Department of Fish and Game since 1935, with the exception of the five years during World War II (Young, 1969; Clark, 1982~. In 1975, the department initiated the Southern California Independent Sport Fishing SuIvey to monitor catches by recreational anglers. In 1979, the department, in collaboration with the National Marine Fisheries Ser- vice (NMFS), began a statewide program to monitor recreational catches. The objectives of these programs were to determine the magnitude and composition of the catch, to estimate effort expended by anglers and divers from private boats, and to assess the degree of compliance with state fishing laws (Wine, 1979~. Monitoring of artificial reefs began off Southern California in the late

75 1950s, in order to test the effectiveness of artificial reefs in increasing the availability of marine organisms and improving fishing. This program ended in 1964 and no formal studies were undertaken for 15 years, although reef building continued. In 1979, the Department of Fish and Game, in conjunction with Southern California Edison, began a six-year monitoring study of the development of marine life on the Pendelton Artificial Reef near the San Onotre Nuclear Generating Station. The objective was to develop a method of mitigating potential losses of kelp beds due to power plant operations. The success of this study resulted in an expanded program by the department to build and monitor artificial reefs throughout the Southern California Bight (Grant, 1987~. This monitoring program is designed to identify the effects of important variables such as depth and reef topography on the biological communities that colonize reefs. Hzstoncal Monitoring and the CalCOFI Program Monitoring of marine fish and shellfish resources in the Southern Cal- ifornia Bight has continued for more than 70 years. This monitoring has almost from the beginning been closely associated with research programs on fisheries. For this reason, the CalCOFI program is described here rather than in the research section below. In 1914, the California Department of Commercial Fisheries was established to collect fisheries statistics, de- velop improved methods for catching and processing fish, and study the life histories of commercially important fish and shellfish (Hewitt, 1988~. Beginning in 1918, the Department of Commercial Fisheries collected catch data from commercial fishermen and fish dealers on species composition, weight, gear type, location, and intended commercial use. Much research was also performed during the 1920s and 1930s on fishery stock size, year class abundance, and fish distribution along the Pacific coast. After World War II, state fishery agencies in California, Oregon, and Washington formed the Pacific Marine Fisheries Commission, and were later joined by fishery agencies in British Columbia. The commission's original focus was to study the Pacific sardine fishery, but when the fishery collapsed in 1947, it turned its attention to salmon, albacore, bottomfish, Dungeness crab, and shrimp (Croker, 1982~. After the sardine fishery collapsed, the California State legislature established the Marine Research Committee, composed of members from the commercial fishing industry and the California Department of Fish and Game. The committee set up a Fish and Game Preservation Fund to support research to improve the commercial marine fisheries of California and develop new commercial marine produces. In 1948, the committee established the California Cooperative Sar- dine Research Program. Its purpose was to study the distribution and

76 natural history of sardines, their availability to the commercial fishery, fishing methods, and the physical, chemical, and biological oceanographic processes influencing sardine populations off California. The program in- cluded members from the California Department of Fish and Game, the Federal Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Hopkins Marine Station, the Cal- ifornia Academy of Sciences, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography. In 1953, the program was renamed the California Cooperative Oceanic Fish- eries Investigation (CalCOFI) and was expanded to include consideration of species other than sardines. By 1960, CalCOFI's objectives had evolved to understanding factors governing abundance, distribution, and variations of pelagic marine fishes, emphasizing the oceanographic and biological factors affecting sardines and other marine life in the California Current system (Baxter, 1982~. The Fisheries Conservation and Management Act of 1976 (FCMA) gave the federal government management authority over commercial fish- enes in the exclusive economic zone (the EEZ, 3 to 200 mi from shore), superseding the management role of the Marine Research Committee. The FCMA established regional fisheries management councils to develop plans for regulating harvesting of commercially valuable fish stocks and for controlling access of foreign fishing or processing vessels to U.S. territorial waters. However, the NMFS, the California Department of Fish and Game, and Scripps decided in 1979 to continue CalCOFI as a long-term marine resources monitoring and research program (Radovich, 1982~. The scope of and funding for the program have been greatly reduced in recent years (Figure 4-1~. Fisheries and oceanographic data continue to be entered into the CalCOFI online data system at the Southwest Fisheries Center in La Jolla. This system contains a large-scale, multivariate time series of physical, chemical, biological, and meteorological data from approximately 40,000 stations and 300 cruises in the eastern North Pacific Ocean, collected since 1949. Cooperation with scientists from Mexican institutions remains an im- portant part of the CalCOFI program. This includes joint scientific sym- posia and cooperative studies of anchovy abundance and sardine spawning stocks. In addition, Mexico's fishery agency, the Secretatiat de Pesca, has expressed interest in funding a reestablishment of the CalCOFI time series transects in Mexican waters that were discontinued several years ago. Kelp Bed Monitoring Kelp beds along the California coast represent both a recreational and a commercial resource. Because of kelp's unique characteristics, separate programs have been instituted to monitor this resource. The California

35o If Boo 77 5O 120° 1 1 1 1 11 i 1 1 1 1 :; POINT CONCEPTION By ~40 . ~ 1.w'~ W- _ 83.11 .110,~ 90.1 20 at/ ·1 O'Oo/ _ \~ 93.120 I i CALCOFI PATTERN 125O 1 1 1 120O 35o am_ 1 1 1 1 :30O FIGURE 4-1 Location of the 1987 field survey stations sampled by CalCOFI during quarterly cruises. Station numbers and a typical cruise track are also shown. Department of Fish and Game has conducted quarterly aerial surveys of kelp beds in Los Angeles County since 1974. Since 1987, these overflights have been extended south to San Onofre, near San Clemente. The goal of this program is to document fluctuations in bed size, and short-term studies have been conducted at the offshore islands and north of Los Angeles on . . specla occasions. In addition to these aerial surveys, diving surveys have been carried out since 1977 at five sites around the Palos Verdes Peninsula as part of the Nearshore Sportfish Habitat Evaluation Program. The goal is to increase understanding of kelp bed ecology. In San Diego County aerial surveys have been earned out quarterly since 1967 by Dr. Wheeler North of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. These data are used by the SLY municipal dischargers in the county to fulfill NPDES monitoring requirements. The Kelco Co. of San Diego compiles kelp harvest data by month and by kelp bed. However, only total annual values are available to the public due to lease agreements between Kelco and the state.

78 Noncommercial Resources Another type of resource monitoring is mandated by Title III of the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (MPRSA) in the Channel Islands National Park At the national park, long-term, time series monitoring is used to assess and maintain the ecological conditions (National Park Service, 1984~. The main focus of the monitoring, much of it done with volunteers, is to determine the population dynamics and long- term environmental trends for key species of marine plants and animals in the park. The National Estuarine Reserve Research Program of the Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) mandates research and monitoring pro- grams in designated estuaries. In fiscal year 1988, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) initiated a competitive grants program for studies in the 17 designated national estuarine reserves. The Tijuana River estuary is the only national estuarine reserve in the Southern California Bight area. Research and monitoring will be focused in five areas: 1. water management- the relationship between freshwater inflow and estuarine productivity; 2. sediment management the effects of different types of sediments and sedimentation processes on estuaries; 3. nutrients and other chemical inputs effects of anthropogenic inputs on estuaries; 4. coupling of primary and secondary productivity nature of estu- arine food webs and energy flows; and 5. estuarine fishery habi~t requirements values of estuaries as nurs- e~y areas for commercial and recreational species. In the case of the Tijuana River estuary, these data will be extremely useful in influencing the design of sewage management strategies for Ti- juana, Mexico (see "The U.S.-Mexican Sewage Contamination Problem," Chapter 2~. Water Quality Monitoring for Public Health The California Health and Safety Code specifies that the State Depart- ment of Health Services is responsible for supervising sanitation, health- fulness, and safety of public beaches and public water contact areas of the state's bays and ocean waters. The State Department of Health Services may delegate some monitoring and enforcement activities to the county health services departments. When a public beach or water contact sports area fails to meet standards, the local health officer or the State Depart- ment of Health Services, after considering the causes of the failure, may

79 pOSt the area with warning signs or otherwise restrict use of the area until corrective action has been taken and the two following standards are met: 1. physical-no sewage sludge, grease, or other physical evidence of sewage discharge shall be visible at any time on any public beaches or contact sports areas; and 2. bacteriological-samples of water at a public beach or water contact sports area shall have a most probable number (MPN) of coliform bacteria less than 1,000 per 10 ml, provided that no more than 20 percent of the samples at any station in a 30-day period exceed 1,000 per 10 ml, and provided further that no single sample, when verified by a repeated sample taken within 48 hours, shall exceed 10,000 per 10 ml. The monitoring programs performed by county health agencies in support of these management activities are of two types: (1) routine bacteriological sampling, and (2) bacteriological sampling following a waste discharge into recreational waters. Special studies are also carried out by county health agencies. However, there are no health monitoring programs targeted specifically at human health eRects (e.g., gastroenteritis) related directly to water-contact sports. Orange County has performed a monitoring program in recreational waters for several years. Los Angeles County is now monitoring routinely. In San Diego County, monitoring is performed along the shore at four sewage treatment plant ocean outfall sites: city of Oceanside, Encina Water Pollution Control Facility, San Elijo Water Pollution Control Facility, and city of San Diego. The outfall from the Point Loma Plant was constructed before kelp beds were included as water contact sports areas and the treatment plant is experiencing difficult meeting bacterial standards at the outer perimeter of the kelp beds. For over 30 years, the San Diego County Department of Health Services has performed beach and bay surveys annually. About 60 stations are usually sampled on these surveys. From three to five samples are collected at each station in April and May of each year. In addition, surveys of 40 stations, with a single sample from each station, are performed in early July and September. Many of these stations are interspersed with the shoreline stations sampled by the dischargers. A routine weekly survey of water quality in Mission Bay was started in 1977 and continued through January 1987. The city of San Diego has replaced it with a more intensive monitoring program with more stations sampled more frequently. This monitoring program was initiated voluntarily by the city because of strong public concern about poor water quality. The data collected in all these monitoring activities is shared with the State Department of Health Services, regional water quality control boards, and other state and federal agencies concerned about recreational water quality.

80 National and Statewide Monitoring Programs NOAA's National Mussel Watch Program and National Status and Mends Program represent national monitoring programs that have included sampling and measurement stations within the Southern California Bight. While the numbers of stations are too few to present a comprehensive picture of contaminant levels in the bight, they do provide a basis for making comparisons with contaminant levels in other parts of the country. The original National Mussel Watch Program, developed by Dr. Ed- ward Goldberg of Scripps and 10 other principal investigators, was first funded by EPA in 1976. Mussels and oysters were sampled at approximately 78 coastal and estuarine stations along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts of the United States in 1976, and again in 1977/1978. There were eight stations in the Southern California Bight. Mussel tissues were analyzed for six metals, three radionuclides, DDT (and its breakdown products), PCBs, and petroleum hydrocarbons (Goldberg et al., 1978a). Total funding for the program was about $400,000 per year. The national program was not continued past 1978, but several local programs were continued. In 1984, NOAA's Ocean Assessments Division initiated the National Status and [lends Program that includes a National Benthic Surveillance Project and a Mussel Watch Project (NOAA, 1987~. In the Benthic Surveil- lance Project, sediments and demersal fish have been collected annually since 1984 from 50 sites along the U.S. coast, including Alaska. In the Mussel Watch Project, mussel and oyster samples have been collected once each year since 1986 from 150 sites along the U.S. coast, including Alaska and Hawaii. Sediments are also collected at many of the Mussel Watch stations. There are 6 Benthic Surveillance stations and 16 Mussel Watch stations in the Southern California Bight (Figure 4-2~. An extensive suite of metals (17), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (l8), pesticides (15), and PCBs is analyzed in the animal tissues and sediment samples. In addition, the fish are examined for diseases and histopathological lesions. The overall objective of the National Status and Mends Program is to assess and document the status of coastal and estuarine environments. Specifically, the program is intended to define the geographic distribution of contaminant concentrations in biological tissues and in sediments from U.S. coastal and estuarine waters, determine temporal changes in those concentrations, and document biological responses to contamination (e.g., Matins et al., 1986~. This information will be used to make decisions about the use and allocation of resources in the nation's coastal and estuarine regions. Since 1976, the California Department of Fish and Game, under an interagency agreement with the California State Water Resources Control Board, has performed a Mussel Watch Program for monitoring marine and

81 ~ o it,, ~ 1 ~=, it: -I G) G) in ~ in ° cn it. ~ ~ ~ E m: of of O O O ~ O <Y E ~ ~ E _ a' ~ ~ _ ~: ~ :m2 - 'of in of W ) ~ -con J ~ ~d" C: 1 1 ._ o / C)] - ~5 U) Ct Am CO CO ~, cn a D m c CO a' .= CO a) C)  0,~ ~n 0° z cn ° ~L' - ~n cn 0 0 CO CO o oD - - - ._ CO O ~ O _ 08 3 ._ C~ ._ ca o ~ ~- ~ ct .= c~ ~ . - ~ - ~i c~ ct c~ ~ t ct . - ~ - . ~ o . - -  c~ . - s ~: .5: ~ . - ~ m Ct Ct ._ - _ o V) - ~ C ~ ._ C~ ~ U: - ~ U, Ct C~ .= - _ C ._ - z ~ ~ ~ _ O Z ~ Ct C) C) ~ C~ _ o c-, S: 0 ~ :: _ ~ ~ U' ~ c~0 _ =-= ~ ~_ 3 ~ - ;> C~ o ._ - C~ - C~ o

82 estuarine waters (Stephenson et al., 1987~. Its purpose is to provide the state board and six coastal regional boards with an ongoing assessment of the geographic and temporal trends in levels of chemical contamination in coastal waters. The state's Mussel Watch Program is somewhat different than -the national program in that it includes only five reference stations and several site-specific "hot spot" survey sites. The latter may change from year to year. Resident mussels are used at the reference sites, but transplanted mussels or the Asiatic clam, Corbicula fluminea, are used at most site-specific stations. The two reference stations in the Southern California Bight are at Palos Verdes (Royal Palms State Park) and Oceanside. They are also National Mussel Watch sampling sites, providing an opportunity for intercalibration of results from the two programs. In 1986-1987, 11 site-specific surveys were performed in the Southern California Bight (Figure 4-2~. These studies were performed at one or more locations inside harbors, marinas, or enclosed bays. All but two of the site-specific surveys were designed to collect baseline estuarine data. The survey in Los Angeles/Long Beach harbors was to document the levels of DDT, PCBs, and metals; the survey in San Diego Bay was intended to assess the level of contamination of PCBs, silver, copper, and zinc. Citizen and Community Monitoring Interest in the bight and its resources by community and environ- mental groups has extended to voluntary participation in monitoring and research programs. Three examples of these efforts have provided useful ntormatlon. Over 200 organizations and their personnel, mostly volunteers, monitor marine mammal strandings along the California coast as part of the Ma- rine Mammal Stranding Network. The data generated by the Network are collected and managed by NOA^s Southwest Fisheries Center in La Jolla. Notification of strandings has been useful to scientists studying chemical contamination, diseases, and population trends of marine mammals (Sea- gars et al., 1986~. Volunteer reporting of physical evidence of sewage entering recre- ational waters has provided local health departments with timely infor- mation needed to determine whether to close recreational beaches and swimming areas. Finally, annual volunteer beach cleanups coordinated by the California Coastal Commission have resulted in estimates of the type and quantity of plastic debris littering beaches. Such information has proven useful enough that the Center for Marine Education in Washington, D. C. plans to develop a uniform data reporting system for beach cleanups nationwide. These data

83 will help in monitoring the magnitude of the plastic debris problem, as well as the effectiveness of source control and recycling programs. These efforts are supported officially, since Section 2204 of the 1987 Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act directs the Secretary of Commerce, in cooperation with EPA, to encourage the formation of volunteer groups, to be designated as "Citizen Pollution Patrols," to assist in monitoring, reporting, cleanup, and prevention of ocean and shoreline pollution (1987 Marine Plastic Pollution Research and Control Act included as Title II in the U.S. Japan Fishery Agreement Approval Act of 1987~. Monitoring Expenditures Marine monitoring programs are expensive, primarily due to staffing needs. Itained scientists and technicians are required to conduct field sampling, perform laboratory analyses, interpret resulting data, and write reports. Many activities involved in monitoring, such as benthic infaunal analysis and analytical chemistry, are labor-intensive. Ultra Tech (1984) estimated the costs to perform representative monitoring activities to be: · $200 to $1,200 for a single benthic infaunal analysis; and $920 to $2,300 for a single priority pollutant scan of sediments. These estimates are low compared to current rates, but they do show that monitoring is not cheap. In the Orange County 301(h) monitoring program, 300 benthic infaunal samples and 196 sediment chemistry samples are analyzed each year. Assuming that each benthic sample costs $600 and each chemistry sample costs $1,500 to analyze, the total cost per year to analyze these samples alone is $474,000. Equipment and facilities that must be purchased are also costly. A good gas chromatograph, needed to measure PCBs, DDT, and other or- ganic contaminants, may cost $10,000 to $50,000. An atomic absorption spectrophotometer, used to analyze metals, will have a similar cost. Re- search vessels equipped for accurate navigation and for collecting diverse sample types may cost $2,000 to $5,000 per day for an offshore vessel and $500 to $1,000 per day for a smaller vessel suitable for sampling close to shore. Able 4-7 summarizes estimated costs incurred during the last five years in different types of monitoring in the Southern California Bight. This summary is incomplete, since it does not include several voluntary (nonmandated) monitoring programs and research efforts performed by different dischargers, environmental agencies, or universities. In addition, the costs of effluent monitoring activities are probably under-recorded, since they often are not consolidated with receiving water monitoring budgets. Facilities and overhead costs for those aspects of monitoring performed

84 TABLE 4-7 Estimated Costs for Monitoring Programs in the Southem California Bight Program/location Costs in thousands of dollars 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 Waste treatment plants Point Lana 496 766 1,129 1,935 1,332 CSD Orange County 270 269 1,206 1,894 1,954 CSD Los Angeles County --required 350 373 351 434 750 --voluntary 450 503 479 522 350 Los Angeles City Hyperion 530 583 767 809 890 Aliso, South Laguna Beach __! 43 44 33 34 Oxnard --- --- 103 214 277 SERRA, Dana Point --- 31 24 27 31 San Elijo --- --- --- --- 32 Encina 5 5 8 135 134 Goleta 14 17 47 170 270 E1 Estero -- 50 Electricity generating plants San Onofre nuclear plant, Southern California Edison, required and voluntary San Onofre, Marine Review Committee Southern California Edison, 7 generating stations --full program --fish and bioassay Scattergood Generating Station Encina, San Diego Gas and Electric Thermal outfalls Redondo Harbor Industrial discharges THUMS Natural resources Charnel Islands CalCOFI (based on 60 days at sea, $9,000/ day ship time) State mussel watch 1,1001,100 1,100 1,100 1,100 6,0006,000 6,000 6,000 6,000 540540 200200 540 540 200 --- 12.5 12.5 540  200 200 25 200 20 45 540 325 328 331 334 340

85 TABLE 4-7 Continued Programllocation Costs in thousands of dollars 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 .. California Fish and Game Pendleton reef l900s pelagic fish parry boat survey sportfish management fishery assessment Pacific Manne Fishenes com~ruttee recreational fishery statistics Public health Lalg Beach Orange County San Diego Total --- 280 530 175 55 360 800 250 80 -- - - - - - - - 150 --- 80 17,874 . ^--- data not available. SOURCE: SCCWRP, 1988. in-house by municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial discharg- ers usually are not reported. While an accurate accounting of overhead costs is not available, these have been estimated to be equivalent to the direct costs, effectively doubling the total. Expenses incurred by county public works departments in monitoring chemicals in stormwater runoff are also not included in Table 4-7. Costs for the NOAA Status and [lends (Mussel Watch) monitoring of mussels, sediments, and fish in the bight are not included. (The estimated cost for sampling all stations in the bight and analyzing the samples is $175,000 per year.) Despite these omissions, the costs summarized in Table 4-7 do give a rough impression of the minimum level of expenses incurred in monitoring water quality, natural resources, and public health. Table 4-7 reveals some important facts. Total estimated costs in 1987 for all monitoring in the bight are over $17 million. Because of the large budget of the Marine Review Committee's study of SONGS (ending in 1989), monitoring costs for the electric utilities are higher in this year than for the municipal wastewater treatment plants. Among the treatment plants, the most expensive monitoring program, at nearly $2 million per year, is the 301(h) monitoring program being performed by the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County. Total natural resource assessments

86 cost about $3.3 million per year, while public health monitoring by the separate counties costs about $310,000 per year. Of the total annual monitoring expenses of over $17 million in the Southern California Bight, nearly 80 percent are borne by the public sector. Much of the remainder is spent by the California Department of Fish and Game for marine resource monitoring. Summary of Monitoring Activities The review of monitoring activities in the Southern California Bight highlighted several important features that will be treated in more detail in the analysis of monitoring (Chapter 6~. For the most part, monitoring is performed in response to permit requirements that regulate discharge activities. There are many agencies, federal, state, and local, involved in establishing standards and regulations under which these permits are administered. Despite the many agencies and programs, there is no overall coordination of monitoring in the bight. There is, however, cooperation among agencies that jointly regulate specific discharges such as the Hyperion outfall. Individual monitoring programs are carefully carried out using state-of- the-art methods, and the quality of the resulting data is typically very high. Finally, liable 4-7 reveals that, with the exception of the recently ended Marine Review Committee program at San Onofre, the bulk of monitor- ing funds are devoted to measuring the effects of municipal wastewater discharge. THE RESEARCH SECTOR A great deal of research is performed in the bight by federal, state, and local agencies, and by universities and private industry. Some of this research is oriented specifically toward environmental problems (such as the effects of municipal wastewater outfalls) that are also addressed by monitoring programs. Other research is oriented toward more general issues in oceanography and marine ecology. Research results can benefit monitoring programs by: . increasing understanding of the marine environment and thereby enhancing the ability to predict, measure, and assess human impacts; · identifying physical, chemical, or biological changes that are bet- ter indicators of pollution impacts than the parameters currently used in monitoring programs; · providing information on the character and variability of natural processes in the marine environment that can be used as references against which to compare changes due lo human activity;

87 · establishing a link or correlation between a parameter measured in a monitoring program and an adverse outcome of concern to society (e.g., link between fecal coliforms and disease); · determining whether measurements made in monitoring programs provide meaningful assessments of the health of ~e marine environment and the nature of human impacts on it; and · developing new techniques and instrumentation for use in moni- toring programs. The research sector is even more diverse than the monitoring sector, with a wide variety of programs that span the range from large-scale studies carried out by multidisciplinary research groups to narrowly focused studies performed by individual scientists. The following sections describe repre- sentative research activities sponsored by federal, state, and local agencies, universities, and private industry. This is not meant to be an exhaustive listing of programs and certainly does not come close to describing all the research carried out in the bight. Federal Agencies Marine research in the bight is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Minerals Man- agement SeIvice (MMS), the Department of Energy (DOE), and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The NSF funds individual investigators as well as research programs and institutes at universities throughout the bight. This research is described more completely in the section below on university research. NOAA funds several important programs in the bight. The National Status and [lends Program was described above as part of the monitoring sector. In addition, NOAA funds the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) and the Sea Grant College Program. NMFS performs studies of the biology of commercially important fish species and of the relationships between stocks of these species and the physical and chemical oceanography of the bight. Such studies in- clude investigations of habitat requirements, reproduction, feeding biology, population dynamics, geographic distribution, and response to contami- nants. NMFS is also an active participant in the CalCOFI program, which combines monitoring and research focused on commercial fisheries (see Historical Monitoring and the CalCOFI Program above). Because of its long history, archived samples from the CalCOFI program have proven valuable in studies of trends of contaminants such as DDT.

88 NOAA also funds the Sea Grant College Program, which is adminis- tered through the University of California. The federal Sea Grant legisla- tion requires that at least one-third of the total federal funds received by each program be matched with local (nonfederal) funds. Since 1973, the state of California has made successive five-year commitments to provide up to two-thirds of the required matching funds (University of California, 1989~. Sea Grant studies have addressed a wide variety of coastal prob- lems, including, at present, the functioning of wetlands, physical processes in the coastal zone, aquaculture, marine products chemistry, and ocean · . engineering. The U.S. EPA funds research targeted at specific environmental prob- lems. This research is not extensive compared to that carried out by other agencies, since EPAs regional activities are predominantly enforcement re- lated. As an example of such targeted research, EPA supported a study in 1980 to investigate fish catch and consumption among population subgroups in the Los Angeles area. The study was designed to furnish information useful in formulating local regulatory approaches, and was motivated by awareness that certain parts of the local population consume larger than average amounts of locally caught seafood containing elevated concentra- tions of DDT and PCBs (Puffer et al., 1982, 1983; Puffer and Gossett, 1983; Gossett et al., 1983~. In addition, research carried out at the various EPA research laboratories is often relevant to environmental issues in the Southern California Bight. The Pacific Outer Continental Shelf Region of the MMS funds an Environmental Studies Program (established in 1973) designed to provide basic information needed to make management decisions about the outer continental shelf (F. Piltz, personal communication; Piltz, 1990; MMS, 1990~. Although most of this region lies outside the boundary of the bight, some portions of these studies are carried out inside it. Southern California region studies have investigated air quality, potential toxicity of oil to seabirds and marine mammals, adaptation of marine organisms to chronic exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons, and the effects of geophysical acoustic survey operations on important commercial fisheries. In addition, MMS has carried out large-scale reconnaissance of benthic hard- and soft-bottom communities and assessments of long-term changes in benthic communities in oil and gas development areas. Some MMS studies (e.g., Fauchald and Jones, 1978) are notable for their wide geographic coverage and commitment to long-term data collection. The Ecological Research Division of DOE is sponsoring three regional studies in the bight. One of these, the California Basin Study (CaBS), be- gun in 1985, is a multidisciplinary effort to examine and understand the production, transport, and ultimate fate of biogenic Articulates and the energy-related products (e.g., radionuclides) associated with them. One of

89 the major goals of CaBS is to develop a carbon budget for the Southern Cal- ifornia Bight that incorporates the contributions of bacteria, phytoplankton, and zooplankton. The U.S. FWS Biological Services Program has performed an ecolog- ical inventory of the entire Pacific coast, including the bight. The FWS has published several reports on critical habitats within the bight, including kelp forests and coastal marshes, and has developed a series of profiles of environmental requirements for coastal fishes and invertebrates. State Agencies Marine research in the bight is sponsored by the California Depart- ment of Fish and Game, the Water Resources Control Board, and the Department of Health Services. In addition, state funds contribute to the support of the Sea Grant College Program. The Marine Resources Branch of the Department of Fish and Game conducts research designed to protect and enhance specific fished re- sources. The department has studied the effectiveness of artificial reefs in enhancing fish stocks and evaluated various methods for rehabilitating kelp beds. In addition, the department participates in funding the CalCOFI program, which investigates the biology of commercial fisheries. The State Water Resources Control Board funds research specifically related to identifying environmental problems and developing water and sediment quality criteria and regulatory standards. For example, the board has supported a survey of PAH levels throughout the bight, followed by lab- oratory studies of PAH uptake and toxicity. The board has also requested studies of sediment transport and alternative methods of establishing sedi- ment quality criteria. The California Department of Health Services has examined levels of chemical contamination in fish caught in Santa Monica Bay and Ins Angeles and Long Beach harbors. The results of this investigation will be useful to EPA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in revising action limits for some highly nonpolar organic contaminants, such as DDT and PCBs. These are of special concern because of their high potential for bioaccumulation and toxicity. Local Agencies The single largest and most focused body of research on pollution problems in the bight is that performed by the municipal and regional sani- tation agencies and the research organization they jointly fund, the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP). In addition, local

go public health departments conduct research into the health effects of ma- rine contamination and the regional water quality control boards carry out occasional studies targeted at the development of regulatory criteria. The four major sanitation agencies in the bight all maintain active marine research programs that are beyond the activities mandated by their discharge permits. These four agencies are Los Angeles City, the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County, the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County, and San Diego City. These agencies typically fund research on questions that are relevant to the management of their discharges and the understanding or mitigation of environmental impacts. They consider this research necessary to answer questions that are not addressed by mandated monitoring programs. Research has included both field and modeling studies of sediment transport and plume behavior, as well as investigations of nutrient dynamics in the water column, sediment toxicity, benthic community structure, and kelp bed ecology. In conjunction with SCCWRP, Los Angeles City is currently conducting an experimental study of the rate and character of ecological recovery around the city's sludge outfall, which suspended discharge operations in November 1987. In addition to these active research programs, all discharge agencies in the Southern California Bight belong to the Southern California Association of Marine Invertebrate Taxonomists (SCAMIT). This organization works to ensure that all studies use a consistent, standardized, and up-to-date species list of marine invertebrates. This list has proved invaluable in regional analyses, which otherwise would have been impossible to perform. Discharge agencies also are active members of the Southern California Environmental Chemists Society (SCECS), which performs an analogous function for environmental chemistry. SCCWRP was founded in 1969 with the aim of conducting both basic and applied marine research relevant to the discharge of municipal wastew- ater to the bight. At present, SCCWRP is supported by a yearly allocation from the seven major municipal dischargers in the bight, and to a lesser extent by contract funds from state and federal agencies. SCCWRP in- vestigates generic problems of interest to all the dischargers, develops and refines new methods, and performs regional analyses that are beyond the scope of individual dischargers. SCCWRP's work has resulted in important additions to knowledge about the marine environment and improvements to monitoring practice. For instance, SCCWRP researchers have evaluated alternative methods for sampling benthic communities and developed the Infaunal Atrophic Index for characterizing the degree of change in benthic communities. They have also investigated histopathological and biochem- ical indicators of pollutant stress in marine species, documented pollution induced changes in reproduction of key fish species, and monitored re- gional trends in the incidence of effects such as fin rot and tumors on

91 fish. SCCWRP has performed a vital function because of its ability to collect and integrate data from all the municipal dischargers in the bight. As a result, SCCWRP has been able to complete significant analyses of bightwide patterns and trends in contamination and environmental change. The periodic SCCWRP Report series is available to the public on request. Counter health departments and municipal governments in the bight have carried out periodic research studies to assess the likelihood of specific health effects from environmental contamination. For example, the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services has carried out lifeguard surveys in response to inquiries about the health of lifeguards.) These studies were stimulated in part by the finding that seven lifeguards in the Los Angeles area had developed cancer. The department is currently planning an additional epidemiological study of lifeguards that will focus on short-term health outcomes. Lifeguards were chosen as a sentinel group for monitoring possible adverse health outcomes due to marine pollution because they are more heavily and consistently exposed than the general public to contaminants in the ocean. The department is also investigating the relationship between consumption of ocean fish and concentrations of DDT, DDE, and PCBs in the milk of lactating mothers.2 Another example of research performed by local agencies is the city of San Diego's study to assess health risks from the municipal wastewater discharge at Point 1In 1982, following notification that seven lifeguards in the Los Angeles area had developed cancer, Dr. Thomas Mack of the University of Southern California Cancer Surveillance Program undertook a study of cancer prevalence in Los Angeles County. He concluded that, although the number of cancer cases was higher than predicted, the elevation was not statistically significant. Neither was there evidence of a causal link between work as a lifeguard near Santa Monica beach and the subsequent appearance of cancer. In addition to these studies, investigations by the Department of Health Services have shown that industrial health claims demonstrate no dear pattern of illness in relation to where the lifeguards work. Prevalence of hepatitis A serology among lifeguards does not differ from control populations. 2Previous mammal studies showed that PCBs and DDT adversely affect neonatal development at doses that might be encountered by a small percentage of people eating contaminated fish from the bight (Allen and Barsotti, 1976~. To address this concern, the Department of Health Services has selected approximately 50 post-partum breast-feeding women, predominantly from lower socioeconomic groups, as subjects in a study of the relationship between consumption of ocean fish and concentrations of DDT, DDE, and PCBs in breast milk. Preliminary results indicate that PCB concentrations (measured on a fat basis) are typically between 0.1 and 0.3 ppm. There are no values over 0.9 ppm. DDT is present in breast milk at concentrations from 1 to 5 ppm, with a few values over 10 ppm as measured on a lipid basis. It appears that the major source of PCBs in these women is the consumption of fishery products from the bight. However, there is an association between prior residence in Mexico or Central America and elevated (5 ppm or higher) concentrations of DDE in breast milk. All concentrations measured to date are well below the FDA action limits for whole milk (on a whole milk basis).

92 Loma to recreational divers who use the Point Loma kelp bed or consume seafood caught there.3 The regional water quality control boards, which act independently of the state board, occasionally support research targeted at specific local problems. As one example, the Los Angeles board recently funded a study of contaminants in river runoff in the Los Angeles basin. Universities The are more than 200 academic institutions in the region of the Southern California Bight. Some of these have extensive and diverse marine research programs, while others may have only one or a few marine scientists active in particular specialties. The great number and wide variety of the academic marine research programs carried out in the bight make it impossible to review this work in detail. The following paragraphs therefore summarize only those programs that are large, well known, or have contributed significantly to knowledge about the marine environment and environmental effects. The Scripps Institution of Oceanography of the University of Cali- fornia (UC) system carries out the largest and most varied set of marine research programs in the bight. Scripps is one of the largest oceanographic institutions in the country. It coordinates Sea Grant projects carried out by schools in the UC system and is a member of the University National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), partially funded by the Na- tional Science Foundation. The research performed at Scripps is worldwide in scope and the institution maintains a fleet of oceangoing research vessels. However, a significant proportion of this work is focused on the California Current system and the Southern California Bight. Scripps has several large research groups that focus on particular as- pects of marine studies. The Food Chain Research Group's focus is the food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycles of plankton, and the nature of environmental effects on these. The Marine Life Research Group focuses on understanding the distribution and variability of the living resources of the California Current system. This research is carried out primarily - 3Between June and September 1986, 346 recruited divers made 1,371 dives in the Pt. Loma kelp bed. Over 90 percent of the divers took seafood from the kelp bed and 25 percent of those who ate the seafood ate it raw. Raw seafood was consumed underwater by 18 percent of the divers. Severe illnesses that fit the highly credible gastrointestinal symptoms (HCGI) as defined by EPA were reported. If all reported HCGI illnesses were genuine, then there were eight HCGI cases per 1,000 divem. The new EPA Water Contact Criteria that use enterococcus as the indicator organism for marine waters set a maximum allowable geometric mean enterococcus concentra- tion that would permit an estimated 19 illnesses per 1,000 swimmers. The apparent health risk to divers in the Pt. Loma kelp bed is thus relatively low.

93 in conjunction with the CalCOFI Program. The Center for Coastal Stud- ies emphasizes investigations of sedimentology and physical and chemical oceanography in the coastal zone. The goal of these studies is to increase the ability to assess and predict the effects of human activity in the coastal environment. In addition to these large groups, individual investigators at Scripps carry out research on the physical and chemical oceanography of the bight, as well as on the biology of kelp bed communities, fish populations, and other resources. The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) supports the Marine Science Institute and the Coastal Research Center. These research groups carry out basic and applied studies on specific marine resources such as kelp beds and fish stocks, as well as on more general problems such as the toxicity of pollutants. The Center for Remote Sensing and Environmental Optics is developing methods for applying remote sensing (i.e., satellite imagery) technology to the assessment of-patterns and processes in the marine environment. The University of Southern California (USC), a private institution in Los Angeles that is designated as a Sea Grant Institutional Program and is part of UNOLS, operates the Santa Catalina Island Marine Science Center. Historically, the USC Allan Hancock Foundation conducted pioneering programs emphasizing the coastal sedimentology and benthic ecology of the bight. USC has also conducted diverse applied studies, such as baseline inventories in marinas, harbors, and nearshore and continental shelf waters, and environmental assessments in support of the siting of the Hyperion Treatment Plant deepwater outfall and the Terminal Island Treatment Plant outfall. USC has also cooperated with the County Sanitation Districts of Los Angeles County in studies of the plume from the districts' White Point outfall. Other studies performed by USC researchers have examined the effects of oil seeps, the Santa Barbara oil spill, harbor dredging, and disposal of fish processing wastes. The California State University (CSU) system, originally termed the State College system, is distinct from the University of California system. In the Los Angeles area, the State University system operates the Southern California Ocean Studies Consortium (SCOSC), which coordinates marine research, education, and community service programs at several state uni- versity campuses. The consortium recently completed a baseline biological survey for the Terminal Island dry bulk handling terminal in Los Ange- les Harbor. Prior to and since the formation of SCOSC, faculty at CSU Long Beach have studied the effects of pollution on nearshore benthos and on reproduction of benthic invertebrates and have developed alter- native bioassay/toxicity testing techniques. Facula at CSU Fullerton and CSU Northridge have focused on the ichthyology of wetlands and embay- ments. Researchers at San Diego State University have performed studies

94 of wetlands degradation and restoration and of the impacts of sewage from Mexico on the Tijuana estuary. The California Institute of Technology (Cal filch) supports the Environ- mental Engineering Program and the Environmental Quality Laboratory. Scientists in these two groups have been involved in the design of major wastewater outfalls in the bight and in developing design modifications for power plant cooling-water intakes that drastically reduced the numbers of fish taken in with the cooling water. In addition, Cal loch scientists have studied the chemical and physical processes related to the movement and ultimate fates of discharged materials in the bight, have examined the chem- istry of wastewater effluent, and investigated the fractionation of sewage sludge discharged to the ocean. For many years, Cal Tech also housed the Kelp Habitat Improvement Project, a long-term effort to understand the biology of kelp beds and enhance their survival and growth. Notable among the research programs at small colleges in the bight is that at Occidental College, which has operated the R.V. Vantuna program for more than a decade. This ship-based program focuses on extensive otter trawling and diver ichthyological surveys, and on research on the effects of heated wastewater plumes from coastal power plants. Private Industry Private industries in the bight maintain research programs that are targeted at understanding the effects of specific discharges or other activi- ties. With the exception of Southern California Edison's program, however, most of these are small and narrowly focused. Since 1972, the company has operated a research and development laboratory in Redondo Beach, and for many years supported a program of voluntary research termed the "Special Studies Program." These studies were carried out at SCE's initiative in order to: more clearly describe the effects of the company's permitted intake and discharge of power plant cooling water, and these effects. develop a greater understanding of the mechanisms underlying Southern California Edison's research has included investigations of the effect of chlorinated discharges and thermal stress on various life stages of coastal fishes, fish behavior around cooling water intakes, the bightwide distribution patterns of ichthyoplankton and adult fishes, the biology of kelp beds, and remote sensing studies of surface-water temperature patterns throughout the bight. An unusual aspect of much of Edison's research is its emphasis on bightwide patterns and processes. For example, the company has attempted to determine whether its numerous coastal power plants, in

9s the aggregate, have had any effect on larval and adult fish abundance and distribution in the bight. This orientation reflects the fact that Southern California Edison, unlike other dischargers, operates throughout the entire bight. Research Successes Research programs have contributed greatly to both the evolution of monitoring technology and to the mitigation of the impacts of human ac- tivity in the bight. These contributions are too numerous to list completely, but a few historical examples will indicate the breadth and importance of the relationship between research and monitoring programs in the bight. For many years, scientists at USC's Allan Hancock Foundation carried out research on the biogeography of the bight. These studies described the fauna of the continental shelf and slope and the offshore basins. The result- ing comprehension of zonation patterns was important in understanding the impacts of wastewater discharge. This information was also instrumental in determining the placement of outfalls and designing monitoring programs. When Southern California Edison was first constructing coastal power plants in the bight, it worked closely with scientists and engineers at Cal Tech to redesign cooling water intakes to reduce the numbers of fish taken in with the cooling water (or impinged). Modeling and experimental studies showed that fish were disoriented by the vertical flow fields around intakes. As a result of this understanding, Southern California Edison fitted velocity caps to all intake structures. These velocity caps create a horizontal flow field around intakes, thus reducing the numbers of fish impinged by over 90 percent. Both the severity of the original problem and the efficacy of the velocity caps were documented by monitoring. The diversion in 1971 of the County Sanitation Districts of Orange County's wastewater discharge from a shallow inshore outfall to a deeper outfall offshore provided a unique opportunity for research on both the recovery and disturbance of benthic communities. Gary Smith, of Scripps, studied the dynamics of community recovery at the old discharge site and the progress of disturbance effects at the new outfall site (Smith, 1974~. The increased understanding of impact mechanisms that resulted from this study was extremely valuable in the continued improvement of monitoring around outfalls in the bight. SUMMARY Monitoring and research programs in the Southern California Bight are both diverse and intensive. They are carried out by a wide variety of federal, state, and local agencies, as well as by universities and private

96 industry. Virtually every aspect of the marine environment is currently being monitored or otherwise investigated. In many instances, research and monitoring activities have been closely coordinated, with research results being used effectively to improve and re- Sne monitoring efforts. The active marine research community in Southern California has produced many innovations that have advanced the state of the art in marine monitoring. In addition, the large monitoring programs represent a valuable source of time-series data on the marine environment in the bight. One of the most striking features of the monitoring and research system in the bight is the great number of programs carried out by an almost equally great number of agencies, universities, and industries. This has led to examples of interagency cooperation that could serve as a model for other regions facing similar problems. However, it has also led to fragmentation and a lack of integration, which has hampered monitoring efforts. These issues and others related to the technical design of monitoring programs will be dealt with in Chapters 5 and 6.