Water quality is very important to the species that live in our streams. As part of the Habitat Conservation Plan, the Aquatic Monitoring program outlines water quality monitoring procedures. PALCO has also designed and implemented additional water quality measures in cooperation with the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board. Our program primarily monitors sediment from various sources at a range of potential impact levels (on individual timber harvest plans, road crossings, at a tributary watershed level, and at a larger watershed level). The program uses both continuously recording equipment and individual sample collection.

To support the water quality projects, PALCO maintains a full service sediment processing laboratory. During the 2002-2003 sampling season, more than 300,000 data points were collected by using both grab samples and the continuously recording equipment for these projects. The laboratory analyzed more than 7,700 turbidity and suspended sediment samples. Over the 2002-2003 winter, more than 10 people worked on these projects full time, an extraordinary effort made possible by the Company's investment of more than $500,000.