Clean Water Program

Jay Davis is interviewed about the methyl mercury found in fish caught in Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir.

"The concentrations in the food chain are over a million times higher than the concentrations in water," Davis said. "It is important to note that even though mercury is showing up at concentrations of concern in the fish, it's not an issue for the drinking water."

The study was done by researchers at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, who released the results of the landmark, $1.5 million, two-year project in June. They sampled sport fish at nearly 300 popular fishing lakes in California for methyl mercury, PCBs, DDT and other contaminants.

The condensed version of the Chronicle article on urban runoff that went out via AP

Institute scientist Jay Davis tells the San Francisco Chronicle that tests of striped bass from the Bay last year found they contained mercury levels averaging .4 parts per million

A KTVU story by Tom Vacar features Tom Mumley and Lester McKee

"Any component of our urban landscape that allows our water to run off very very quickly also allows the contaminants to run off very very quickly as well," said Lester McKee.

This TV story features Tom Mumley, Sarah Pearce, and Robin Grossinger, with cameos by Rainer Hoenicke and a nice shot of the Pulse

"As the water slows down and all the sediment it is caring is really able to slow down and fall out of suspension and gets trapped back up in here, and so all the contaminants that are attached to that sediment are also trapped," says Pearce.

"Historically, we thought (the Sacramento and San Joaquin) were the dominant inputs of contaminants in the bay, but our thinking has shifted," Davis said. "The tributaries from the urban landscapes are contributing more."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/10/04/BAPC1FO6QP.D...

Article about topics from the 2010 Pulse featuring an interview of Jay Davis

"That's been a major shift in our understanding in the last 10 years," said Jay Davis, a senior scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the editor of the annual report called "The Pulse of the Estuary 2010." "Ten years ago, we didn't have good hard data."