Maintenance Dredge Program - Water Quality Monitoring | San Francisco Bay Area, CA

Industry: Public, Federal

Services: Water Quality

Surf to Snow was the lead consultant for the USACE on this project conducting water quality monitoring during planned dredge operations in three San Francisco Bay area locations. The program was established pursuant to Water Quality Certification (WQC) Order No. R2-2015-0023 for the 2015-2019 Maintenance Dredging Program issued to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) by the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). The water quality monitoring was performed at Richmond Inner Harbor, Oakland Harbor and the Redwood City Harbor.  The data collected was utilized to analyze any potential impacts of controlled decanting during dredging on water quality in the project area.

 

The Surf to Snow team collected water quality samples from a company vessel in the water strata (surface, mid-depth, and near bottom) at three locations associated with each dredge operation on 10-minute intervals to ensure the dredge operations did not create conditions that exceeded the Aquatic Life Turbidity Criteria associate with the RWQCB Order.  Surf to Snow submitted daily reports that compared the water quality data collected to background samples from the various locations to the USACE to communicate the conditions associated with the dredge operations