The project addresses the crbrp priorities 'monitoring to evaluate trends' and 'promoting citizen engagement or knowledge' by allowing US to initiate a multi-phased toxic contaminant monitoring…

The project addresses the crbrp priorities 'monitoring to evaluate trends' and 'promoting citizen engagement or knowledge' by allowing US to initiate a multi-phased toxic contaminant monitoring program with the ultimate goal of reducing contaminant sources. Lcep will assess current contaminant levels, compare results to historic levels at 9 sites historically monitored by partners, and report out the results in technical and citizen-friendly educational formats. A working group of key partners will guide the applicant in an update of the sampling design for lcep's toxic contaminant monitoring program in anticipation of implementing the updated design with future funding. The project will be completed within the lcep study area, the lower 146 miles of the columbia river from bonneville DAM to the pacific ocean. Activities:the lcep proposes to initiate a multi-phased monitoring program starting with phase 1 described here. Lcep has an established monitoring design for toxic contaminants that was originally developed in 1999 and updated in 2011 using working groups composed of key partners. Our proposed project will kickstart the lcep toxic contaminant monitoring program by 1) partnering with USGS to assess toxic contaminant levels at 9 sites; 2) compare results from this current research to the results collected previously at these sites to identify temporal changes; and 3) facilitate a working group that will use the results to inform and update the sampling design for lcep's toxic contaminant monitoring program for the lower columbia river. We will facilitate a working group composed of odeq, ecology, USGS, critfc, yakama nation (YN), cowlitz indian tribe (CIT), confederated tribe of the grande ronde, cities of portland and vancouver, the north coast watershed association (ncwa), and other partners. The results of this project will allow US a better understanding of the status of contaminants in the lower columbia river - are contaminants still a problem at these sites, have the suite and/or levels of contaminants detected changed, and does monitoring need to expand to other sites and/or additional contaminants to identify if the problem has grown. Results of this project will allow US to better focus future monitoring and identify potential opportunities for diagnostic source tracking. Lcep anticipates applying for additional funding for implementing future phases of this monitoring program.subrecipient:organization is partnering with USGS, who is well-qualified to complete project activities RE: data collection, lab analysis, and reporting. Lcep is also partnering with or DEQ for working group efforts.outcomes: lcep will collect and analyze samples for a suite of toxic contaminants at 9 of the previously monitored sites, during three times of the year to capture a suite of conditions. Lcep will establish and facilitate a working group to guide an update of lcep's toxic contaminant monitoring program design. Lcep and USGS will complete a final report to usepa that includes results from activity 1 data collection and analyses efforts and activity 2 updating the lcep contaminant monitoring program sampling design.