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CC HAB working group finalizes benthic cyanobacteria guidance, SOPs and revised signage for review
Summary
A CC HAB subcommittee led by state and regional partners circulated an updated package of products—monitoring guidance, a standard operating procedure, a field data sheet, a North Coast thresholds memo and updated signage—and will submit the materials to co‑chairs for adoption after editorial review.
Carly Nelson and colleagues with the State Water Board and regional partners presented an updated guidance package for benthic harmful cyanobacteria that includes monitoring recommendations, a standard collection procedure (SOP), a field data sheet and a North Coast thresholds memo developed from pilot studies.
Nelson said the working group convened in May 2023 and met regularly to reconcile recent science and field experience. The guidance focuses on public‑health decisions — whether human or domestic‑animal use should be restricted — in flowing waters; the document offers alternate monitoring tiers for resource‑limited programs and for routine or event‑response sampling.
Key operational points in the package: the guidance emphasizes percent‑coverage visual assessments at reach scale as an early, practicable indicator; recommends paired use of deployed spats (passive samplers) as early detection tools; and advises collecting composite benthic mat samples for toxin identification when visual coverage or spat signals indicate elevated risk. The working group adopted a conservative posting approach for single event responses (short‑term notifications) and a structured follow‑up and de‑posting rule for programs that can perform repeated sampling.
A memorandum prepared by North Coast staff summarized two pilot years of data and proposed data‑driven thresholds linking spat results, benthic coverage and toxin concentrations. The subcommittee incorporated that memo into the package and explained that the memo’s thresholds are intended for public‑health posting decisions and were derived from river systems; additional study is needed to apply them to lakes and reservoirs.
The working group also circulated two versions of revised advisory signage to reviewers. The committee reported that a majority of reviewers preferred a revised bilingual sign that adds a posting date field, refreshed images and a QR code; the group will slightly modify layout to improve legibility before posting. The SOP and field data sheet were edited in response to reviewer requests for clearer site‑selection guidance, shore‑only protocols and a concise two‑page field summary teams can carry in the field.
Nelson, Marissa Van Dyke and Mike Thomas said the documents will be copyedited for clarity and run through accessibility checks before the CC HAB co‑chairs review and approve the package for publication. The co‑chairs will recuse authors from approving their own contributions, the presenters said, and Nelson said staff will keep a tracked responses log to show how public comments were handled.
