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Council members report expanded post‑wildfire water monitoring and push for statewide plan
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Summary
Council members and agency partners described large coordination efforts after recent Southern California wildfires, discussed gaps in real‑time data access and sampling standards, and raised a possible legislative pathway to require a statewide post‑fire water quality monitoring plan.
Greg Gerhardt, deputy director for information management and analysis at the State Water Resources Control Board and acting director of the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, opened the meeting with an update on wildfire response and monitoring coordination.
Council members and partners reported an intensive monitoring effort following recent Los Angeles wildfires and rain events. Caitlin Kalua, representing the California Ocean Protection Council and serving as cochair of the council meeting, said OPC funded emergency monitoring and longer‑term coordinated sampling to assess debris, sediment and downstream impacts on beaches, coastal waters and communities. She noted a large number of monitoring partners were involved and that Los Angeles County is maintaining a public database the council hopes to expand with water quality data.
Why this matters: speakers said residents want near‑term answers about water and beach safety after fires and rain events, yet data are often scattered across multiple jurisdictions and posted at different speeds. That fragmentation limits the usefulness of available results during disasters.
Discussion and concerns: multiple participants, including Greg Gerhardt and Caitlin Kalua, said current public data feeds are frequently too slow for emergency needs. Gerhardt said the council should help design an emergency data framework so laboratory results and field samples can be shared more rapidly. Krista Kammer and others discussed ideas for a standardized post‑fire monitoring plan that would specify what to sample, where, and when after a fire.
Possible legislative path: Krista Kammer reported that an assembly member’s office had asked for ideas and that the subcommittee drafting a concept paper on post‑fire monitoring had identified legislation as a potential route to require a statewide plan. Kammer said the office expressed interest in having the State Water Board lead implementation rather than academic institutions, and that a “spot bill” opportunity existed in the near term to indicate legislative interest.
Next steps and limitations: speakers recommended (1) continuing to compile lessons from the recent fires, (2) improving automated data pipelines for emergency sampling, and (3) coordinating with counties and regional boards that host local data portals. Several speakers emphasized that while a legislative mandate could accelerate planning, funding and roles would still need to be specified.
Ending: Council members asked staff and cochairs to follow up with working groups and external partners to scope a May agenda item focused on post‑fire monitoring and to coordinate with legislative staff if a spot bill is pursued.
