Flood is the other major disturbance on which CAP LTER will focus. In collaboration with the USGS, we have begun a study to examine the transport of materials from urban patches to waterways during the intense, localized storms that characterize this region. Their existing data, plus new studies initiated in summer 1998, will form the basis for comparison of urban, suburban, and desert catchments in terms of their yields of nutrients, organic carbon, and metals.