The California Water Boards' Annual Performance Report - Fiscal Year 2012-13
PLAN & ASSESS: SURFACE WATER MONITORING (SWAMP) |
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| GROUP: |
SURFACE WATER MONITORING |
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MEASURE: RESULTS REVIEWED-CHEMISTRY RESULTS |
| MESSAGE: |
Approximately, 91% of the chemistry results collected between 1995 and 2012 have been reviewed and the data are now available in permanent side of SWAMP database to be used in water quality assessments. |
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| KEY STATISTICS FOR 1995-2012 |
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MEASUREMENTS
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Data collected Between 1995-2010 |
Data collected Between 2011-2012 |
| Region |
Data Under Review |
Data of Known Quality |
%Data Reviewed |
Data Under Review |
Data of Known Quality |
%Data Reviewed |
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Click on a Region in the Map below, to see data for that Region.
WHAT THE MEASURE IS SHOWING
The data shows that 99% of the chemistry results collected between 1995 and 2010 have been reviewed and the data are now available to be used in water quality assessments. The process to obtain data of known and documented quality takes time as evidenced by recent data collection efforts (2010-2012) that show approximately 5% of the data have been reviewed. Monitoring data are expected to be available in permanent side of SWAMP database for water quality assessment after two years the sampling process started.
WHY THIS MEASURE IS IMPORTANT
Monitoring and assessment of the State's surface waters provides data and information to determine the status and trends of their water quality condition. This data and information also allows the Water Boards to establish water quality standards, determine compliance with requirements, guide actions to protect these waters, and evaluate the effectiveness of pollution control efforts. The Water Boards' Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) monitors and assesses the State’s surface waters, directly and through collaborative partnerships, such as with the California Department of Water Resources and the California Department of Fish and Game, to support water resource management. Data from SWAMP is used for many purposes, including the State's water quality assessment report, "Clean Water Act Section 305(b) Report on Water Quality", and the impaired water bodies list, "Clean Water Act Section 303(d) List". Before releasing the data to the public and used in water quality assessment the data must be reviewed for quality control. The SWAMP data review process requires all results for the project to be reported in accordance to the Work Order, the data are checked to ensure they conform to SWAMP Business Rules and Standard Operating Procedures for Data Verification. These steps are important so that the data available to the public are of a known and documented quality.
Unless data are rejected by the laboratory or project management, there are no mechanisms in SWAMP to reject data. A subset of SWAMP data does undergo a secondary level of validation, which include possibilities for rejection. Rejected results are not made available to the public
TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS
- Data Source: SWAMP Database. Period: 1995-December, 2012. Extracted: November 1, 2013.
- Unit of Measure: Number of Chemistry analysis and number of chemistry results reviewed.
- Data Definitions: A Chemistry result represents a single chemical parameter analyzed in the laboratory for each individual sediment or water sample from a single site on a specific day.
- References:
- Regional Water Board fact sheets on regional monitoring strategies:
- Swamp data are available here
GLOSSARY
- Sampling Event
- During a site visit, water samples or measurements can be collected from a specific water body site(s) to represent the water body as a whole. These samples are then analyzed for specific parameters, either in the lab or field.
- Chemistry Results
- Chemistry results represent a single chemical parameter analyzed in the laboratory for each individual sediment or water sample from a single site on a specific day.
- Surface Water
- Waters that are naturally open to the atmosphere such as rivers, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, estuaries, and ocean. These waters form from collected water on the ground, and are naturally replenished through precipitation and naturally lost through evaporation and sub-surface seepage into the groundwater.
- Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP)
- Water Board program responsible for coordinating all water quality monitoring conducted by the State and Regional Water Boards. In addition, SWAMP promotes collaboration with other entities by proposing conventions related to monitoring design, measurement indicators, data management, quality assurance, and assessment strategies, so that data from many programs can be used in integrated assessments.
