SMC regional monitoring to include stormwater BMP effectiveness evaluation

The SMC’s 2019-2023 Regional Watershed Monitoring Program will compare water quality at stream sites that receive BMP-treated stormwater to ecologically similar sites that lack BMPs. The sites will be identified by an SMC technical workgroup over the next several months, with a workplan expected to be finalized by winter 2020.

BMPs encompass a wide variety of stormwater control measures that are both structural (e.g., detention basins) and non-structural (e.g., street sweeping, habitat restoration).

Monitoring programs for stormwater BMPs typically focus on evaluating performance of the BMP itself, not on tracking how receiving water quality is affected.