Sacramento River nutrient change study

The Sacramento River Nutrient Change Study (SRiNCS) was developed with input from multiple stakeholders in the Delta Regional Monitoring Program, as well as the State Water Contractors. We tracked the effects of changes in nutrient loading resulting from a short-term wastewater hold at the Sacramento River Wastewater Treatment Plant (SRWTP). In the summer of 2019, scheduled wastewater effluent holds occurred during the Effluent Valve Replacement (EVR) project, part of the EchoWater Project upgrade at the SRWTP. During an EVR hold in early September 2019, no treated effluent entered the Sacramento River for 48 hours, creating a parcel of “without-wastewater” river water approximately 20 miles (32 km) long. We observed the magnitudes and impacts of short-term changes in nutrient loading in water with wastewater (WW+, September 10) and without wastewater (WW-, September 11 and 12) in the Sacramento River and three downstream channels: Georgiana Slough, the North Fork Mokelumne River, and the South Fork Mokelumne River