Recording of Webinar Available!
Edited version of the live webinar above. To get the link to the recording ASAP - please email admin@wcieca.org with payment confirmation.
Webinar Summary
This intermediate-level webinar is your opportunity to learn how to develop and implement total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for sediment and turbidity. The webinar will employ two contrasting case studies of TMDLs developed for salmon-bearing streams on California's North Coast.
Learning Objectives:
- Describe the basic planning steps in developing a sediment and turbidity TMDL, with particular emphasis on conducting the sediment source analysis to determine natural background sediment from anthropogenic or management-related sediment.
- List tiers and categories of BMPs appropriate for sediment and turbidity TMDLs at the watershed scale for the State Water Resources Control Board and the site scale consistent with the CA CGP.
- Name several approaches to TMDL compliance monitoring and how to tailor the approach for a particular 303d water quality-impaired watershed.
Webinar Description: Watersheds make and are made by erosional processes on the land. Riverine systems derive multiple benefits from natural episodic sediment delivery, while chronic anthropogenic (management-related) sedimentation can negatively impact watershed health, aquatic species, and water quality. Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) set a threshold for the amount of a particular pollutant, like sediment and turbidity, that can be delivered to a river system without impairing the "beneficial uses" of the waters.
Participants in this webinar will learn about the TMDL process, from listing a watershed as impaired to performing a sediment source analysis to determine what can be considered natural "background" sediments and what are "management-related" sediments to developing BMPs for the land practices contributing sediment. This will include watershed-scale practices to move the entire watershed towards water quality recovery and site-scale BMPs meeting the requirements of the CA CGP.
The course will highlight two ground-breaking TMDL case studies in Northern California, including 1) the Mad River TMDL, which was set forth by the Federal EPA for the entire watershed, and the Mad River TMDL Compliance Plan, which was developed through a landowner-based process guided by a local non-profit agency; and 2) the Elk River TMDL and TMDL Compliance Plan, which were set forth by the CA Regional Water Quality Control Board for a partitioned reach of the watershed.
More about the presenter - Craig Benson has been an avid researcher, applied scientist, and contractor in a wide variety of watershed-scale to site-scale rehabilitation, reclamation, remediation, and restoration efforts in the U.S., Latin America, and West Africa. 2023 marks Craig's 40th year in practice with over 400 projects under his belt. Niels Bohr says "An expert is a person who has made every mistake in a given field". If one adds "...and learned from them" to the quote, then Craig has shared his "expertise" at the last ten IECA conferences. Through his career Craig's work has spanned the gov't sector, academia, both the private consulting and contracting world, the non-profit/NGO sector and working with Indigenous Communities. Hence, he brings perspective from a broad range of approaches and operating cultures.
*NOTE: PDHs are currently accepted by Ecopliant (CISEC). We are working on getting approval from Envirocert (ECI) for CPESCs.
Instructor: Craig Benson, IECA 2023 Speaker of the Year
Faculty: Cal Poly Humboldt