Expert Panel Charge Questions

Charge Question 1: Is there a clear linkage between the six surface water monitoring program questions and the decisions that will be made by the Central Valley Water Board, the ESJWQC, and the ESJWQC’s members?

Charge Question 2: Is the ESJ monitoring framework appropriate to answer the ILRP’s questions?

  • Subquestion 2a: Is the monitoring program design, including the reliance on use of representative and represented sites, a technically sound approach?
  • Subquestion 2b: Are the criteria presently being used to select representative sites appropriate?
  • Subquestion 2c: Are the monitoring sites of sufficient spatial density to identify general locations of potential pollution resulting from irrigated agricultural waste discharges?
  • Subquestion 2d: Are the monitoring sites of sufficient temporal intensity to identify potential trends in pollution resulting from irrigated agricultural waste discharges?
  • Subquestion 2e: Are the monitoring parameters and measurement methods suitable to address the six ILRP monitoring questions?

Charge Question 3: Is there a mutual understanding of how the monitoring data are going to be used by the Central Valley Water Board and the ESJWQC, individually and collectively?

  • Subquestion 3a: Are the data submission requirements appropriate?
  • Subquestion 3b: Are the data integration approaches, and thresholds for assessment, appropriate?
  • Subquestion 3c: Is the translation process from data into potential actions clear, including the possible triggering of enhanced monitoring for source attribution or enhanced spatial/temporal pattern description?
  • Subquestion 3d: What iterative processes for evaluating monitoring program effectiveness could be implemented for continuous improvement?

Charge Question 4: If revisions to the program are recommended, are there steps that should be taken to incorporate compatibility with historic information?