Research Areas > Regional Monitoring > Watershed Regional Monitoring > Regional Watershed Assessments

Project Group: Regional Watershed Assessments

SCCWRP Research

One of SCCWRP’s primary aims is assessing the health of streams and rivers in southern California. In order to assess the ecological health of watersheds in Southern California, SCCWRP coordinates several regional and local programs to ensure that other groups conducting monitoring throughout the region can reduce costs and benefit from each others’ efforts. In addition, SCCWRP is involved in a number of studies at the state, regional, and watershed level.

Definitions of reference sites may vary from program to program, creating a major challenge for program integration across a large and diverse region like southern California. To help maintain consistency within and across regions, SCCWRP will establish a network of reference sites for long-term monitoring. The data provided by this network will help local programs in southern California establish benchmarks for their own assessments, and also compare assessments within the region to those done in other parts of the state.

Regional watershed assessment projects include:

• Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition (SMC) Regional Watershed Monitoring Program
• The Use of a Master Sample to Integrate Aquatic Resource Monitoring Programs in Southern California
• Assessment of Coastal Watersheds in the San Diego Region
• Establishing Reference Conditions in Southern California Streams
• Effects of Regionwide Fires on Deposition, Runoff, and Emissions to the SCB