CASQA has identified bacteria as a water quality priority, requiring solutions at a statewide scale. In September 2022, the State Water Resources Control Board and CASQA co-hosted a statewide summit on bacteria to create an engaged information sharing and discussion platform. The following resources are a direct outcome of the summit and aim to advance shared goals to ensure waters are safe to swim and shellfish are safe to eat.
California Bacteria Summit
The California Bacteria Summit was held at CalEPA in Sacramento on September 14-16, 2022. We are grateful to everyone who shared their knowledge and brought their voice to help build solutions to achieve our shared common goals of waters that are safe to swim, and shellfish that are safe to eat. View a summary of the event.
Presentations are hyperlinked in the final agenda (PDF), as well as listed below. Please note, not all portions of the California Bacteria Summit included presentations (e.g., discussion panels, break out groups, collective group discussions). Watching the videos of the summit will provide the most enriching and complete perspective.
Video Links
Presentations: Day 1 (September 14, 2022)
Presentations: Day 2 (September 15, 2022)
Presentations: Day 3 (September 16, 2022)
Item 1
Welcome and Opening (PDF) (Jonathan Bishop, State Water Board and Karen Cowan, CASQA)
Item 3
What does it mean to say “waters that are safe to swim and shellfish that are safe to eat? (PDF) (Ryan Golten, Facilitator)
Item 4
California Bacteria Objectives (PDF) (Rebecca Fitzgerald, State Water Board)
Framework for Ocean and Beach Monitoring (PDF) (Amanda Blackwell, State Water Board)
Framework for Ocean and Beach Monitoring (PDF) (Nick Martorano, State Water Board)
National Water Quality Recreational Criteria (PDF) (John Ravenscroft, EPA)
California Department of Public Health Regulatory Framework (PDF) (Vanessa Zubkousky, CDPH)
Item 5
How Do We Evaluate and Measure if Waters are Safe to Swim and Shellfish are Safe to Eat? (PDF) (Josh Steele, SCCWRP)
How Do We Evaluate and Measure if Waters are Safe to Swim and Shellfish are Safe to Eat? (PDF) (Jeff Soller, Soller Environmental
How Do We Evaluate and Measure if Waters are Safe to Swim and Shellfish are Safe to Eat? (PDF) (Ali Boehm, Stanford University)
For Reference Only: Summit Details
The California Water Boards and CASQA will be co-hosting a three-day statewide summit on bacteria on September 14-16, 2022, at the CalEPA building in Sacramento (pending applicable COVID restrictions in place at that time).
The purpose of the summit will be to identify the priority technical and regulatory actions needed to recreate safely in California’s river I and ocean waters, to eat shellfish safely, and the process to implement those actions. In simple terms, we want to work together to identify solutions and actions that will get us to our goals.
The agenda identifies the goals for each day. It is important to emphasize that presentations will provide information to seed additional discussion. The summit will be professionally facilitated, and all in-person attendees will actively be engaged.
As the success of the event is contingent upon active engagement and participation, we strongly encourage registering individuals who are able to contribute and can commit to doing so over the entire three-day event. In-person attendance is limited to the room capacity and is first-come, first-registered. For those individuals whose primary goal is to learn more and stay informed, please register for the remote viewing option.
Registration (closed)
Pre-Summit Survey
Agenda
Pre-Summit Reading
Additional Information for In-Person Attendees
Additional Information for Virtual Viewers
In-Person Registration is now closed. If you missed the deadline and still would like to attend in-person, please contact Rebecca Fitzgerald (State Water Board). If you would like to view the summit virtually (no participation or in-person attendance), please register here
To help inform the discussions on Day 1, and to help us achieve the overall goals for the summit, we ask all attendees to please complete a pre-conference survey. Please share your thoughts in the survey by September 6th so they can be integrated into the analysis.
Survey Deadline: September 6th
Go to Survey
The volume of knowledge and information related to bacteria and water quality is significant. To further enrich each attendee’s experience, as well as support the goals of the summit itself, a curated pre-summit reading list has been developed. Certain documents may be directly discussed in a particular agenda item (if so, it is noted on the reading list). Other resources may potentially be added prior to or after the summit.
Pre-Summit Reading List (PDF)
Travel and Parking
For more information on travel to the CalEPA Headquarters Building, please see Travel to the CalEPA Headquarters Building | CalEPA. Additionally, the City Hall Garage directly across the street is currently offering a $3/day commuter parking special, with some limitations, available at My.SacPark.org.
Restaurants
For lunch, a 1.5-hour break will be provided on September 14th and 15th, and a 1 hour break will be provided on September 16th. We encourage everyone to use this time to eat and recharge. To ensure we can stay on-track with the agenda each afternoon, we strongly encourage attendees to plan accordingly and return ready to re-engage.
Restaurants near the CalEPA Headquarters Building (PDF)
Summary
Summary of the above information for in-person attendees (PDF)
COVID
There may be a reduced capacity for the meeting room due to COVID restrictions, limiting the number of in-person attendees that can be accommodated. We appreciate your patience as we all continue to navigate the evolving COVID considerations. If we reach the room capacity for registrations, we will create a waiting list.
Virtual Meeting Links
The live meeting links for each day of the summit are posted here: CalEPA Public Webcasts
On the CalEPA website, scroll down to find the California Bacteria Summit and ensure you have selected the applicable date (as there are three days for the summit). Note that while the links are posted, they will not be live until the event itself.
Virtual Viewing and Participation
Thank you for investing your time to stay informed and engaged. We are grateful that so many people will be able to view the summit remotely. Due to constraints of utilizing both remote viewing and in-person formats, virtual viewers will not have access to break out rooms, but the reflections from those groups will be reported out and available for all to hear. As the summit is just the first step in a long process to collectively achieve our shared goals, it is important that you are engaged. We look forward to working with everyone.
Summary
Summary of the above information for virtual viewers (PDF)
