CCLEAN is a long-term regional monitoring program that assists municipal agencies and resource managers in the fulfillment their roles as environmental stewards by providing information needed to protect the quality of nearshore marine waters in the Monterey Bay area.
AMS led the effort to design the Central Coast Long-Term Environmental Assessment Network (CCLEAN) regional monitoring program. Since 2000, AMS has provided ongoing technical direction and management of the CCLEAN Program to track the status and trends of beneficial uses in coastal waters of Monterey Bay, and the river and wastewater discharges potentially affecting those beneficial uses. The Program was designed to satisfy regulatory requirements of program participants, as well as to document the status and trends of important water quality indicators in the area.
The CCLEAN program is funded by five municipal dischargers and an industrial discharger, under direction from the Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB). CCLEAN activities emphasize measurement of anthropogenic contaminants in rivers, wastewater, and in nearshore waters. Loads of contaminants are estimated from flow-proportioned concentrations. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are sampled using in-situ solid-phase extraction methods and current use contaminants are collected into iced borosilicate carboys . Special studies have also been performed to address regulatory needs for information on endocrine disruption properties of wastewater, effects of POPs on sea otter mortality, loads of fecal pathogens from freshwater sources, nearshore surface currents in Monterey Bay, microplastics, polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and effects of wastewater nutrients on sea surface chlorophyll concentrations. Several of these special studies were funded with grants from the State of California and involved collaborations with University of California Santa Cruz, University of California Davis, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife. All data and management practices are reviewed annually and meet a stringent QAPP that has been approved by the Central Coast RWQCB.
For the past 20 years, AMS has been responsible for administering the monitoring program, sampling design, and overall scientific program direction. This program management role has included selection and supervision of contractors, QA/QC of data and uploading to the CEDEN statewide database, statistical analysis, report writing, interfacing with regulatory agencies and the public, and applying for grants to expand the program’s capabilities. CCLEAN has provided necessary data for regulatory determinations regarding impaired water bodies in the Monterey Bay area. Collaborations with Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary also led to the measurement and evaluation of POPs at Davidson Seamount, over 3,000 meters deep off the Big Sur coast of California.
AMS Contact:
Dane Hardin is a water quality expert with a strong quantitative emphasis. He is the Executive Director of CCLEAN.