In-Bay Monitoring of Pollutants, Including Trash, and Algal Species Under the Regional Monitoring Program
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Why is this a San Francisco Bay Program Priority?
To achieve Clean Water Act goals for waters to be fishable and swimmable, the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP) was created in 1993. Today, the RMP is managed by the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) with oversight from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board and other contributing partners. SFEI coordinates with local partners to collect and analyze water quality data to inform management actions.
The RMP significantly improves our understanding of the estuary and serves as the long-term data set that underpins regulatory goals, such as the mercury and PCB TMDLs.
The RMP also continues to identify contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) that degrade water quality and negatively impact the estuary's ecosystem. Current CECs are things like microplastics, pesticides, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that are being studied to assess potential risk to human health and the environment. These pollutants enter the Bay primarily via stormwater.