Marina del Rey Harbor Toxic Pollutants Monitoring Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

The Los Angeles County Public Works Department (Public Works) implemented the Marina Del Rey harbor Toxics TMDL Coordinated Monitoring Program, which is a cooperative effort consisting for a multi-year, multi-jurisdictional program. The monitoring program is comprised of 1) Harbor Dry-Weather water quality monitoring (water quality, sediment testing, and bioaccumulation/fish tissue testing) and 2) Stormwater Quality testing from the storm drains. The monitoring program established the baseline conditions within the marina Del Rey Harbor and characterizes the quality of stormwater conveyed within the storm drain system. The innovative design of the equipment incorporates monitoring within a drain affected by tides. Mobile samplers were designed to sample water within the catch basin that would be representative of a variety of land uses and prevent mixing from the ocean tide fluctuations. Sampler mounts and mobile samplers can be set quickly prior to a storm event and can be removed to ensure minimal impact to the community. As a result of the multi-agency cooperation, the coordinated monitoring program was developed using a collaborative approach and initiated in July 2010. The annual program costs were approximately half of the combined cost if conducted separately by each individual agency.