Modeling team briefs State Water Board on acidification modeling effort

A research team that has been modeling how managers could mitigate the effects of intensifying ocean acidification and hypoxia (OAH) in California coastal waters was invited to brief the State Water Resources Control Board in March about modeling work completed to date.

During the informational board agenda item, SCCWRP’s Dr. Martha Sutula chronicled the modeling team’s ongoing efforts to understand how OAH will change coastal seawater chemistry in the coming years, how sensitive marine life will be affected, and how coastal discharges of land-based nutrients can exacerbate these effects.

The State Water Board is considering whether to financially incentivize water-quality managers to invest in removing nutrients from wastewater discharges. The ongoing modeling work is one line of evidence that is expected to help inform deliberations on this proposed incentives program, which will be decided at a later date.