Third sampling year completed for Regional BMP Monitoring Network

The Southern California Stormwater Monitoring Coalition (SMC) has completed the third year of sampling for its Regional BMP Monitoring Network – a SCCWRP-facilitated effort that is enabling Southern California stormwater managers to generate high-quality, comparable data sets on the performance of structural stormwater BMPs.

Sampling work, which wrapped up in April, spanned 12 BMP sites. Four SMC member agencies measured the water-quality treatment performance of eight flow-through/partial-capture BMPs, while six SMC member agencies collected data from 11 BMPs to support maintenance research.

SCCWRP is planning to lead the SMC this summer in the group’s first deep dive into the data. Because of the limited number of storms and the extensive planning and training required to collect BMP performance data, it has taken multiple years for the SMC to build a robust Southern California data set.

To help managers analyze their raw field-collected data, SCCWRP has developed multiple tools, including the Rainfall and Flow Analysis Calculator and Flow-Weighting and EMC Calculator. These tools convert raw BMP monitoring data that were generated by flow meters and water-quality samplers and sensors in the field, into information that can be used to quantify a BMP’s effectiveness in removing contaminants from runoff. An infiltration calculator also is under development.