The Surf to Snow team – through Prime contract roles since 2008 – is responsible for implementing the water quality and water temperature monitoring study program for the Mokelumne River Hydroelectric Project, FERC Project No. 137. The water quality and water temperature monitoring study is required by Condition No. 11 of the FERC Project license issued on October 11, 2001 (FERC 2001). The focus of the monitoring study is to document temporal and spatial variations of water quality and water temperature in Project-affected streams under operating guidelines mandated by the FERC license. Monitoring includes monthly (March to October) collection of water quality and water temperature data at fourteen (14) locations.

The project includes accessing remote portions of the Mokelumne watershed up to elevations of 8500 feet and requires the field crew to utilize helicopters, 4-wheel drive vehicles, and hiking to access all the sample locations. S2S has been responsible for the collection of the water quality samples utilizing a trace-metal clean technique, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1669, “Clean Hands-Dirty Hands” method to ensure the reporting of results that are accurate and applicable to the regulatory requirements of the RWQCB California Toxics Rule.

The water quality monitoring results are collected each year and supplement existing data that are used by the ERC and USFS to evaluate water quality in Project-affected stream reaches relative to climatic conditions, changes in streamflow regime, and reservoir operations. The water quality monitoring data are used in conjunction with the results of other resource investigations (e.g., water temperature; riparian zones; geomorphology; and fish, macroinvertebrate, and amphibian habitat) to determine the overall effect of the Project flow regimes on the environmental resources of the Project.