Integral’s Greg Cotten and Sean Noble explore how high-volume, long-duration water sampling overcomes the limits of traditional grab sampling for detecting persistent organic pollutants at ultra-low concentrations. Drawing on case studies from a West Virginia sediment cap evaluation, the 25-year Central Coast Long-Term Environmental Assessment Network program in Monterey Bay, and a statewide monitoring effort with the Washington State Department of Ecology, they show how concentrating contaminants from hundreds of liters of water improves detection limits, sample representativeness, and load calculations. Learn how flow-weighted, customizable sampling configurations help connect watershed sources, transport pathways, and exposure conditions to inform targeted management and regulatory action.
Featured on the October 2026 Edition of Integral’s Benthic Zone Newsletter.