Bernardo Vargas-Angel

Culebra Cabra Watershed Water Quality Monitoring Work Plan

2024

NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program; Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

"This monitoring work plan is a key component of Culebra's Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP) Ridge to Reef Monitoring Program aimed at providing standardized guidelines and methods to monitor changes in land-based pollutant loads, nearshore land-based pollutant exposure, and seagrass habitat responses across the island. These monitoring activities are spatially and temporally coordinated and represent the basis of Culebra's Integrated LBSP Monitoring and Evaluation Framework to successfully evaluate progress toward achieving NOAA's LBSP management goals and outcomes on Culebra. On September 8, 2016, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit for the Culebra Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) owned by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA). Effluent limitations for a host of parameters are specified as part of permit conditions. Founded in the ridge to reef principles, this work plan outlines watershed water quality monitoring to evaluate change in LBSP pollutant loads from stormwater and undertreated sewage over time. The monitoring is aligned with NOAA LBSP management goals, outcomes, and evaluation questions. This the water quality monitoring program was also designed to: 1. Implement the Culebra Community Watershed Action Plan for Coral Reefs and Water Quality to support the management and mitigation of LBSPs on Culebra. 2. Build off/develop a water quality baselines for Culebra's impaired watersheds to identify and quantify sources of increased human-derived nutrients inputs into Ensenada Honda. a. Provide the basis to assess the performance of implementing a Floating Treatment Wetland (FTW) to reduce Culebra's WWTP effluent nutrient loads prior to discharge to Ensenada Honda. b. Develop a better understanding of bacterial pathogen loads delivered to Ensenada Honda to inform additional wastewater treatment needs to improve water quality within the Bay. c. Conduct outreach activities to inform and to engage both local community, federal, and Puerto Rican government officials in ongoing natural resource management, restoration, and conservation efforts on Culebra."

Puerto Rico, Culebra, watershed, land-based sources of pollution, LBSP, coral reef, water quality

NMFS

OHC

FY2024 CRCP Project ID 30033; Project Title: Reducing LBSP threats from unpaved roads on Culebra Island; Principal Investigator: Lisa Vandiver