Our Mission

The Central Coast Water Resources Center identifies opportunities to enhance water resources along the California central coast, and provides the scientific and technical capabilities to execute projects that promote watershed health, productivity, and resource dependability.

Capabilities

The Central Coast Water Resources Center (CC-Water) brings together decades of experience in wetland restoration, integrated regional water management, and environmental assessment to address stakeholder goals and regulatory mandates to improve aquatic habitat, water quality and water supply.

Core Competencies

• Wetland habitat restoration and development of natural water infrastructure
• Evaluation of wetland performance for improving water quality and supply
• Water quality monitoring and assessment for point and nonpoint sources, Clean Water Act integrated reporting, TMDL attainment, and evaluation of urban and agricultural runoff treatment technologies, including vegetated treatment systems
• Geographic Information Systems and fine scale mapping of marsh plane topography
• Integrated regional water management coordination and implementation in the Lower Salinas Valley and other central coast watersheds
• Extensive environmental data management capabilities utilizing local and enterprise level database systems
• Wetland Delineation for Army Corps of Engineers permits
• Development and implementation of California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) to assess condition of central coast estuaries, rivers and depressional wetlands
• Historical ecology analyses to improve understanding of central coast watershed function and to help guide successful restoration projects
• Field sampling resources, vessels and expertise to collect trace-clean water, sediment, and biological samples in riverine, estuarine, and marine environments
• Established partnerships with cities, counties, special districts, academic institutions, and regional, state and federal agencies

Facilities

CC-Water has extensive field, laboratory and data management resources for a wide variety of environmental assessments of water, sediment, fish tissue, and habitat condition. These include shallow and deep water research vessels, a trace-clean HEPA filtered chemistry lab, water quality sensors and meters, and the tools and infrastructure needed to manage environmental data in local or enterprise level databases.