The SWAMP IQ is happy to announce that the Quality Assurance Project Plan for the Statewide Bioassessment Program (SBP) is now online under ‘SWAMP Resources’ on SWAMP IQ Bioassessment page.
This plan establishes the requirements for collecting data as part of the Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) Bioassessment Program and provides guidance for programs seeking to generate SWAMP-comparable data.
This QAPP focuses on the two primary monitoring projects of the SWAMP Bioassessment Program: The Perennial Streams Assessment (PSA) program and the Reference Condition Management Program (RCMP). However, this QAPP is intended to apply to other programs associated with the SBP, such as the Stormwater Monitoring Coalition (SMC) in southern coastal California and the Regional Monitoring Coalition (RMC) in the San Francisco Bay Area. The format and elements of this Project Plan are in accordance with United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Guidance for Quality Assurance Project Plans (US EPA QA/G5, December 2002).
Additional new Bioassessment resources:
- Measurement Quality Objectives for Benthic Macroinvertebrate (BMI) Taxonomy – guidelines for field sample collection and handling, and laboratory analyses of BMI.
- Measurement Quality Objectives (MQOs) for Algae – guidelines for field sample collection and handling, and laboratory analyses of algae
- A Standardized Taxonomic Effort (STE) for California Stream Algae
- Standard Operating Procedures for Internal and External Quality Control of Laboratory Processing, Identification and Enumeration of Stream Algae in California
