Bay Regional Monitoring Program
Projects Related to the Bay Regional Monitoring Program
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https://www.sfei.org/documents/2019-pulse-bay-pollutant-pathwaysDownload the Pulse of the Bay! This report from the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay features articles on the four major pathways by which pollutants enter the Bay: municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, stormwater, and dredging and dredged sediment disposal. Each article provides a basic introduction to the pathway and discusses the regulatory framework, recent findings, and future challenges. The report also includes some of the latest highlights from monitoring of important parameters such as nutrients, emerging contaminants, mercury, PCBs, and selenium.
![Photo: Shira Bezalel](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/SBezalel-20181122-A7301974.jpg?itok=3apVjgBR&c=c0e9d9f30ca160c04443cf919702b389)
Plastics, in their various chemical composition and sizes, pose serious challenges to the vitality of California's ecosystems. Once escaped into the environment, plastic contamination persists for very long periods and breaks down into ever smaller pieces, becoming more readily available to wildlife and populations who live, work, and play in those same habitats.
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The Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay is an innovative collaboration of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, the regulated discharger community, and the San Francisco Estuary Institute. It provides water quality regulators with the information they need to manage the Bay effectively. The RMP produces two types of summary reports: The Pulse of the Bay and the RMP Update. The Pulse focuses on Bay water quality and summarizes information from all sources.
![Photo credit: Shira Bezalel](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/Marsh%20by%20Shira%20Bezalel%20%281%29.jpg?itok=5b7tsZER&c=f4d097581d8fe3ca6a78ba488fee8df2)
Despite California's data-rich environment, there are still many obstacles when trying to access and understand pesticide data at the nexus of water quality, ecological effects, and human health. We recognize a need to fill data gaps, not necessarily by collecting new data, but by better leveraging information already technically in the public domain. The goal of this project is to bring pesticide reporting, occurrence, and toxicity data together in ways that yield insights and meet the expressed needs of stakeholders in clear, efficient, credible, and repeatable ways.
![PFAS Family Tree with precursor transformation pathways identified.](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/PFAS%20FIGURE.jpg?itok=xnnbQmSz&c=b0f771f4b6d3d43b67666b8a9e0328ba)
A recent analysis of PFAS in the surface waters of SF Bay was conducted to understand the occurrence, fate, and potential risks to ecological and human health. Eleven of 40 PFAS were detected at part per trillions (ppt) concentrations in ambient water collected in 2021 from 22 sites in the Bay. Seven PFAS (PFPeA, PFHxA, PFHpA, PFOA, PFBS, PFHxS, and PFOS), were found in at least 50% of samples. Concentrations of PFAS in the Bay were generally consistent with similar studies globally for surface water. Sustained, multi-matrix monitoring of this important class of contaminants of emerging concern is a high priority for the RMP.
![Monitoring San Francisco Bay for microplastics - photo by Plus M Productions](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/SFBayMicroplastics_research1_photo4_preview.jpeg?itok=uoR8ZrBA&c=28d207b7c5a0fd337098c4f5648226f4)
Plastic pollution is gaining global recognition as a threat to the resilience and productivity of ocean ecosystems. However, we are only just beginning to understand the scope and impacts of microplastic particles (less than 5 mm) on coastal and ocean resources, and the San Francisco Bay Area is no exception. A preliminary study of nine water sites in San Francisco Bay, published in 2016, showed greater levels of microplastics than the Great Lakes or Chesapeake Bay.
![RMP Annual Meeting](https://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/styles/portfolio_sm/public/projects/Screen%20Shot%202021-09-08%20at%204.10.21%20PM.png?itok=-iStfpbQ&c=1cf0cddaddb8df94e3ea69b3b4a2706a)
The 28th RMP Annual Meeting was hosted on Thursday, October 14th, 2021. Fully virtual for the second year, the meeting included an excellent lineup with presentations from RMP staff and other invited experts. We heard about and discussed findings on Bay sediment supply, PFAS, tire particles and chemicals, and contaminants in Bay fish, among other topics. If you missed the meeting or any specific sessions, recordings of the meeting and presenter slides will be posted below shortly
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Contaminant Data Display and Download Tool or CD3 is an innovative visualization tool for accessing water quality data for the San Francisco Bay-Delta and northern montane regions. It is the primary tool for accessing and downloading the San Francisco Bay Regional Monitoring Program’s (RMP) long-term dataset and other project data stored in SFEI's Regional Data Center (RDC).
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More than 100,000 chemicals have been registered or approved for commercial use in the US. For many of these chemicals, major information gaps limit evaluations of their potential risks, and environmental monitoring of these chemicals has not been required by regulatory agencies. Nevertheless, researchers and government agencies have begun to collect occurrence, fate, and toxicity data for a number of these chemicals.
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The Archive Sample Tool provides a web interface that SFEI researchers can use to browse the RMP archives when considering using archive material for a study. The RMP has been collecting archive samples during each sampling event for sediment, bivalve, fish and birds since the early 1990's. These samples are available to SFEI researchers with RMP Program Manager approval, and can be requested directly from the tool.
Publications related to the Bay Regional Monitoring Program
The Institute has collectively produced more than 1300 reports, articles, and other publications over the course of its 24-year existence. The following list represents those publications associated with this individual program and its focus areas.
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Year of Publication: 2002
Atmospheric Deposition of Trace Metals in San Francisco Bay. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2002 . Report No.: 278. .
Benefits of the Redesigned RMP to Regional Board Decision Making [Internet]. Regional Water Quality Control Board, San Francisco Bay Region; 2002. http://www.sfei.org/sites/default/files/biblio_files/RMPANNMEET02_kt.PPT
(3.59 MB) .
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Contaminant concentrations in fish: 2000 (Oral Presentation). Oakland, CA.; 2002.
(6.24 MB) .
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Contaminant concentrations in fish in San Francisco Bay: 2000. Davis, CA; 2002. .
Contaminant concentrations in sport fish from San Francisco Bay, 1997. Marine Pollution Bulletin, accepted with revisions. 2002;44:1117-1129. .
Contaminants at the Estuary Interface. San Francisco Estuary InstituteCalifornia Resources Agency; 2002.
(1.02 MB) .
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Copper and Nickel Impairment Assessment. 2002.
(1013.5 KB) .
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Copper and Nickel TMDL Development: Lower South Bay. Presented at the 2002 RMP Annual Meeting; 2002.
(2 MB) .
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Current Regulatory Approach to Copper in San Francisco Bay: Source Control, Pollution Prevention, and Monitoring. San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2002.
(168 KB) .
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Decadal decline of anthropogenic silver in San Francisco Bay: Comparison with lead. Environmental Science and Technology. 2002;. .
Decadal trends of silver and lead contamination in San Francisco Bay surface waters. Environmental Science and Techology. 2002;36:2379-2386. .
Determining the Spatial Distribution of Water and Sediment Sampling Locations. Oregon State University; 2002.
(669.5 KB) .
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Effect of injury in salt marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata Say) on resistance to future attacks by blue crabs (Callinectes sapidus Rathbun). American Malacological Bulletin. 2002;17:141-146. .
Episodic Ambient Water Toxicity in the San Francisco Estuary. Oakland, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2002 . Report No.: 51.
(2.11 MB) .
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