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.
Year of Publication: 2019
Occurrence and Sources of Pesticides to Urban Wastewater and the Environment. In Pesticides in Surface Water: Monitoring, Modeling, Risk Assessment, and Management [Internet]. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society; 2019. pp. 63-88. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/bk-2019-1308.ch005 .
Optimal Selection and Placement of Green Infrastructure in Urban Watersheds for PCB Control. Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment [Internet]. 2019;5(2). https://doi.org/10.1061/JSWBAY.0000876 .
Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring Progress Report, Water Years 2015-2018. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 942.
(3.37 MB) .
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Prioritizing Candidate Green Infrastructure Sites within the City of Ukiah: A Demonstration of the Site Locator Tool of GreenPlan-IT. Report prepared for the City of Ukiah Department of Public Works under Supplemental Environmental Project # R1-018-0024. Richmond. CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 .
(1.62 MB) .
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Regional Watershed Modeling and Trends Implementation Plan. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 943.
(2.25 MB) .
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San Francisco Bay Microplastics Project: Science-Supported Solutions and Policy Recommendations. Los Angeles, CA: 5 Gyres; 2019 . Report No.: 955.
(17.53 MB) .
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San Francisco Bay Triennial Bird Egg Monitoring Program for Contaminants, California—2018. Reston, Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey; 2019 .
(1.43 MB) .
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Selenium in White Sturgeon from North San Francisco Bay: The 2015-2017 Sturgeon Derby Study. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 897.
(1.17 MB) .
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Small Tributaries Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring: Loads and Yields-based Prioritization Methodology Pilot Study. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 817.
(1.48 MB) .
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Small Tributaries Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring: Pilot Evaluation of Source Areas Using PCB Congener Data. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 956.
(2.31 MB) .
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The Pulse of the Bay 2019: Pollutant Pathways. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 954.
(21.42 MB) .
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Understanding Microplastic Levels, Pathways, and Transport in the San Francisco Bay Region. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2019 . Report No.: 950.
(4.95 MB)
(66.14 MB) .
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Year of Publication: 2018
2017 RMP Bay Margins Sediment Samples Quality Assurance Report. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2018 .
(210.1 KB) .
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2017 RMP Water Samples Quality Assurance Report. Richmond, CA: San Francisco Estuary Institute; 2018 .
(212.28 KB) .
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