Emily Lau, Author at Southern California Coastal Water Research Project

Articles by: Emily Lau

Post-fire aquatic monitoring network reaches consensus on thresholds for evaluating chemical exposure risks

in Emerging Contaminants, Regional Monitoring 0 comments

A water-quality monitoring network that was formed to track pollution and debris from the Palisades and Eaton fires has reached consensus on a set of thresholds to use for evaluating … More

Expanded microplastics toxicity database helping to advance California’s microplastics management strategy

in Emerging Contaminants, Trash Pollution 0 comments

SCCWRP and its partners have nearly doubled the size of a public, web-based repository of toxicity data summarizing how microplastics exposure adversely affects humans and aquatic life – a major … More

Low-cost sensors for detecting illicit discharges transitioned to end users

in Runoff Water Quality, Stormwater BMPs 0 comments

SCCWRP and its partners have successfully transitioned a network of low-cost field sensors that play a key role in automating detection of illicit pollutant discharges to a monitoring team at … More

Effort launched to assess BMP maintenance condition across L.A. region

in Runoff Water Quality, Stormwater BMPs 0 comments

SCCWRP has launched a summer-long effort to visually assess the condition of biofiltration stormwater BMPs (best management practices) across the Los Angeles region using a standardized, rapid method – an … More

Tool developed to calculate runoff infiltration rate for BMPs

in Runoff Water Quality, Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition, Stormwater BMPs 0 comments

SCCWRP has developed an open-source tool for calculating the infiltration rate of runoff as it passes through stormwater BMPs (best management practices) – a resource intended to help stormwater managers … More

A field crew member from Heal the Bay collects a water sample from Santa Monica Bay as part of an ongoing, multi-agency water-quality monitoring initiative that SCCWRP is leading in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton fires. (Courtesy of Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division)

SCCWRP coordinates post-fire aquatic monitoring network

in Emerging Contaminants, Regional Monitoring, Top News Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP has helped bring together more than two dozen organizations to form a water-quality monitoring network that is tracking how pollution and debris from the Palisades and Eaton fires are … More

A bioswale that runs along the side of a roadway in Orange County collects and treats stormwater runoff. SCCWRP has developed a scoring tool known as the Multi-Metric BMP Performance Index to quantify the performance of structural BMPs and provide insights into whether they are performing at levels that contribute to meeting watershed-specific water-quality goals.

Index scoring tool for rating BMP performance released

in Runoff Water Quality, Stormwater BMPs, Top News Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP has developed a scoring tool that quantifies the degree to which structural BMPs (best management practices) contribute to improving the health of downstream aquatic ecosystems – a novel method … More

A pteropod, or sea snail, with pit marks on its shell, shows signs of shell dissolution in response to ocean acidification. A stakeholder steering committee has begun working to prioritize recommendations developed as part of an independent review process of a suite of coastal ocean acidification and hypoxia modeling tools. (Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration)

OAH modeling stakeholders helping SCCWRP prioritize expert panel’s recommendations

in Climate Change, Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia, Top News Comments are Disabled

A stakeholder steering committee that oversaw an independent expert review of a suite of coastal ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH) modeling tools has begun deliberating about how best to implement … More

Tiny sea snails known as pteropods, which are collected using a plankton tow net, have provided some of the earliest signs of the ecological effects of ocean acidification and hypoxia in California coastal waters. Scientific experts have developed a West Coast plan for using environmental DNA from shell-forming organisms such as pteropods to track the ecological effects of ocean acidification.

Workshop examines how to use eDNA-based method to monitor OA’s biological effects

in Bioassessment, Climate Change, DNA Barcoding, Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia, Top News Comments are Disabled

A group of 15 scientific experts has developed a coordinated West Coast plan for using environmental DNA (eDNA) to track the effects of ocean acidification (OA) on vulnerable shell-forming organisms … More

Effort underway to coordinate SAV assessments along West Coast

in Bioassessment, Regional Monitoring, Southern California Bight Regional Monitoring Program Comments are Disabled

SCCWRP has begun coordinating with a network of West Coast monitoring agencies to build their capacity to assess the health of eelgrass beds and other submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) – … More