2016 Regional Monitoring Plan (RMP) Multi-Year Plan

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | January 1st, 2016

In 1992 the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board passed Resolution No. 92-043 directing the Executive Officer to send a letter to regulated dischargers requiring them t

In 1992 the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board passed Resolution No. 92-043 directing the Executive Officer to send a letter to regulated dischargers requiring them to implement a regional multi-media pollutant monitoring program for water quality (RMP) in San Francisco Bay. The Water Board’s regulatory authority to require such a program comes from California Water Code Sections 13267, 13383, 13268 and 13385. The Water Board offered to suspend some effluent and local receiving water monitoring requirements for individual discharges to provide cost savings to implement baseline portions of the RMP, although they recognized that additional resources would be necessary. The Resolution also included a provision that the requirement for a RMP be included in discharger permits. The RMP began in 1993, and over ensuing years has been a successful and effective partnership of regulatory agencies and the regulated community.  The goal of the RMP is to collect data and communicate information about water quality in San Francisco Bay in support of management decisions. 

2016 Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) Bird Egg Samples Quality Assurance Report.

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | December 13th, 2017

 In 2016, bird egg samples were collected from 4 areas for terns with 84 individual samples analyzed for Hg and 12 composites analyzed for Se. Samples for cormorants wer

 In 2016, bird egg samples were collected from 4 areas for terns with 84 individual samples analyzed for Hg and 12 composites analyzed for Se. Samples for cormorants were collected from 3 areas, with 9 composites analyzed for Hg, Se, PFCs, PCBs, and PBDEs. The sampling and analysis was conducted by the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay. The details of the cruise and sample collection methods are described in the RMP Quality Assurance Program Plan, cruise plans, cruise reports, and field sampling reports. These documents are available from the SFEI website (http://www.sfei.org/programs/sf-bay-regional-monitoring-program). 

2016 Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) Bivalve Samples Quality Assurance Report

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | December 31st, 2017

 In 2016, bivalve samples were collected from 8 stations (including a reference control/ bivalve source site) for the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in Sa

 In 2016, bivalve samples were collected from 8 stations (including a reference control/ bivalve source site) for the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay. The details of the cruise and sample collection methods are described in the RMP Quality Assurance Program Plan, cruise plans, cruise reports, and field sampling reports. These documents are available from the SFEI website.

2016 Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) Sturgeon Derby Study Sampling & Analysis Plan

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | February 1st, 2016

A second year of Sturgeon Derby monitoring will be conducted in collaboration with the 32nd annual Original Sturgeon Derby held by the Foundation Sportsman’s Club out

A second year of Sturgeon Derby monitoring will be conducted in collaboration with the 32nd annual Original Sturgeon Derby held by the Foundation Sportsman’s Club out of Bay Point, CA. The sturgeon derby and tissue sampling will occur on February 67, 2016. Tissue samples from female white sturgeon will be collected, and samples from up to fifteen sturgeon will be analyzed. The Derby offers an opportunity to collect a variety of tissue samples from fish caught for the competition that are otherwise unavailable. This will allow for comparison between selenium concentrations measured in tissues that are easy to obtain nonlethally (muscle plugs, fin rays) and those that are not, but may be of greater interest toxicologically (ovaries, liver) or analyzed for microchemistry (otoliths, for comparison with fin rays). If approved, additional collection of muscle fillet samples will also contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between muscle fillet and muscle plug selenium concentrations. Analysis of tissue samples for stable isotopes will also provide information on diet and habitat use by the sturgeon. Otolith microchemistry will be conducted to support development of a method for fin rays, which can be collected from sturgeon nonlethally during future monitoring efforts. This study will be performed as a collaboration between SFEI (with RMP funding), USFWS, USGS, UC Davis, and Stantec. The purpose of this Sampling and Analysis Plan is to outline the details for how the samples will be collected, handled, and analyzed by the various parties involved with the study. Additional pathology samples taken by USFWS will not be included in this document, except where needed to inform the collection of other samples.

2016 Regional Monitoring Program Update: A Report of the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 1st, 2016

Billions of dollars are at stake in the decisions that society makes regarding activities that are directly intended to protect Bay water quality. The region has made hu

Billions of dollars are at stake in the decisions that society makes regarding activities that are directly intended to protect Bay water quality. The region has made huge investments to build and operate the infrastructure to collect and treat the region’s municipal and industrial wastewater, and continued investment at a similar scale will be needed to maintain, upgrade, and operate this infrastructure to serve a growing Bay Area population. The region has spent and will spend comparably large sums to manage stormwater and establish green infrastructure in our cities to minimize the adverse water quality impacts of stormwater on the Bay. Large investments have been and will be made to manage contaminated sediment in the Bay, both at sites identified for cleanup and for dredging to maintain channels for commercial and recreational vessels. Billions more are at stake in decisions regarding activities that influence Bay water quality as unintentional side-effects. Commercial product formulation and usage (including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, electrical equipment, home furnishings, automobile components, and many, many others), sediment management, water supply management, energy production, and habitat restoration and management are all immense and essential enterprises that have a tremendous influence on Bay water quality.

2016 Technical Memorandum Regarding the Accounting of San Joaquin River Spring-run Chinook Salmon at the Central Valley Project and State Water Project Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Fish Collection Facilities

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) | January 15th, 2016

2016 Updated ambient concentrations of toxic chemicals in San Francisco Bay area sediments

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | February 26th, 2016

 The purpose of this memo is to communicate the most recent results for the ambient concentrations of mercury, Total PAHs and Total PCBs in San Francisco Bay area sedime

 The purpose of this memo is to communicate the most recent results for the ambient concentrations of mercury, Total PAHs and Total PCBs in San Francisco Bay area sediments.  Regulation of dredging and dredged material disposal or reuse under the San Francisco Bay Long Term Management Strategy for Dredging (LTMS) involves, in part, evaluation of sediment chemistry characteristics. For dredged material in California, for most chemicals, there are no numeric sediment quality standards or objectives that define chemical suitability for disposal or reuse at particular placement sites.1 Consequently, Bay dredged sediments are compared to various published screening values and other guidelines, to reference site chemistry, and where available and appropriate, to ambient sediment contaminant concentrations for the Bay as a whole. Therefore, starting in 2011, the LTMS agencies have asked SFEI to calculate the ambient concentrations for a small subset of sediment contaminants that are either subject to TMDL limits for in-Bay dredged material disposal or are relevant for bioaccumulation testing for dredging (DMMO, n.d.). 

2017 Bay Margins Sediment Study Cruise Plan

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | July 3rd, 2017

2017 Flood System Status Report

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | August 10th, 2017

This report is intended to assist flood management planners and engineers in characterizing facilities within the State Plan of Flood Control (SPFC) and to inform the 201

This report is intended to assist flood management planners and engineers in characterizing facilities within the State Plan of Flood Control (SPFC) and to inform the 2017 Central Valley Flood Protection Plan Update (2017 CVFPP Update). The 2017 FSSR provides a concise repository of the status of SPFC Facilities as noted in related DWR evaluation and inspection efforts, along with the efforts of our local and federal partners. The 2012 CVFPP laid the foundation necessary for compliance with the Central Valley Flood Protection Act of 2008 and a new approach to flood management in the Central Valley. As a supporting and informational document to the 2017 CVFPP Update, the 2017 FSSR includes information about inspecting and evaluating SPFC facilities. It also details and quantifies major components of existing flood risk within the Sacramento and San Joaquin river watersheds, and the factors that influence flood risk in relation to the various flood control structures within the SPFC. Additionally, the 2017 FSSR informs and details the current conditions of levees and channels within the SPFC, and includes finalized project information from DWR’s Levee Evaluations Program. Through updating the status of SPFC facilities, the State of California can continue to make informed decisions related to flood risk management. This document is a collaborative effort by DWR, local, and federal partners, signifying a step forward in gaining deeper understanding of the flood system’s current status and condition in the Central Valley.

2017 Margins Microplastics Cruise Report

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | October 2nd, 2017

This report contains information on the summer field sampling efforts conducted by Coastal Conservation & Research (CC&R) in support of two Regional Monitoring Pr

This report contains information on the summer field sampling efforts conducted by Coastal Conservation & Research (CC&R) in support of two Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) studies: South Bay Margins and Moore Microplastics. The South Bay Margins is the second round of a larger San Francisco Bay study collecting sediment and water in shallow margin areas of the bay. The first round was conducted in Central Bay in 2015. The Moore Microplastics study is a collaborative effort with the Moore Foundation to collect sediment and fish samples in San Francisco and Tomales Bays. The work for both studies was contracted through the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) to CC&R. Since overall project management and sampling locations were coordinated between the two projects, activities from both studies will be presented as they occurred.