Monitoring the Microbiology Of the Montecito Outflow Wastewater Plume 2010 (Prop 50 Study)

Executive Summary from the report:

A research project was conducted by an interdisciplinary team from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), with assistance from researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), between July 2006 and December 31, 2009, involving a one-year field sampling and analysis program between November 2007 and November 2008. The project was funded by Heal the Ocean (HTO) with support from the California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The overall objective of the project was to examine the fate and transport of the treated effluent plume from a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharging through a diffuser at the terminus of a short, shallow outfall. The project is important because its results are applicable to the many short outfalls discharging into California’s coastal waters. The approach of the project employed coordinated microbiological and chemical analysis of effluent composition with observations of effluent plume motion to quantify plume dilution, identify plume tracers, and describe trajectories of the plume. The WWTP discharging the effluent is operated by the Montecito Sanitary District (MSD) in Montecito, CA, which also was the site for field sampling.

Acknowledgments:

This research was supported by the State of California with Proposition 50 funds administered by the Clean Beaches Initiative within the State Water Quality Control Board (SWQCB). Funds were provided to UCSB through a contract with Heal the Ocean (HTO). Funds for enterovirus analysis and for 7 events of PhyloChip analysis were additionally raised from private sources by HTO (Hillary Hauser, Director). The Montecito Sanitary District (Diane Gabriel, Brett Walker, and staff), assisted with weekly sampling of WWTP effluent and provided plant flow, temperature, and effluent water quality data for comparison within this report. Priya Verma of HTO and UCSB organized and conducted stakeholder meetings on behalf of this project, and assisted with all reporting. Staff members of SWQCB (Laura Peters, Tom Peltier, and Joan Weber) are acknowledged for their assistance to this project. The Institute of Computational Earth System Science (ICESS) at UCSB administered the project funding for UCSB researchers and assisted with supplies procurements. David Salazar conducted all ocean field sampling, including instrumentation deployment and recovery. Kirk Ireson, Chris Gotchalk, Amy Kinney, and Jeff Lee assisted with the analysis of physical oceanographic data. Line Darmedru, Allison Horst, and Craig Nelson assisted with the microbiological data. Dr. Phil Roberts offered plume modeling assistance.