Science tools for proposed biointegrity-biostimulatory policy to be released this summer

SCCWRP and its partners will begin soliciting public comments this summer on a series of new scientific tools and synthesis reports that will form the technical backbone for a proposed statewide stream biointegrity-biostimulatory policy.

The State Water Board intends to use the science products to craft a regulatory program that better protects the biological integrity of California’s wadeable streams and that more effectively restricts nutrients from stimulating excess algal growth.

Products scheduled for release this summer include:

» Algal Stream Condition Index (ASCI), a scoring tool that uses algae in streambeds to evaluate stream health.

» Biological Condition Gradient, a modeling analysis of California streams intended to help managers set numeric biostimulatory targets based on how benthic invertebrate and algal communities respond to increasing stress.

» Developed landscapes models, a computer modeling tool that predicts the degree to which stream biointegrity scores are likely to be limited, or “constrained,” by urban and agricultural development.

» Biostimulatory stress-response models and synthesis, a series of reports that chronicles the empirical modeling approach being proposed to link stream biointegrity endpoints to eutrophication endpoints, including benthic algal biomass, organic matter content and nutrient loading targets.