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Research and Monitoring

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The San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary is a complex system and requires a comprehensive understanding of both its biological resources and the human impacts on its ecology. Research and monitoring helps improve our understanding of the system and promotes environmentally sound management.

The 1993 CCMP noted that over 70 different monitoring programs could be identified as ongoing in the Estuary, yet no overall plan existed for coordinating monitoring. Since then, the Estuary Project's partners have worked to achieve better integration of monitoring efforts and the SF Estuary now has one of the riches bodies of data available on any estuarine area in the nation. Notable science and monitoring efforts include:

The Regional Monitoring Program (RMP)

The RMP was created in April 1992 by the San Francisco Regional Water Board requiring wastewater, urban runoff, and dredging dischargers to report on discharges and far-field effects of discharges. The Board strongly encouraged a region-wide collaboration in lieu of individual monitoring. At the same time, the Estuary Project's CCMP included a Regional Monitoring Strategy and recognized the emerging San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) as the science steward of the Estuary.

SFEI leads and manages the Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) which monitors contaminant concentrations in water, sediments, and fish and shellfish tissue in San Francisco Bay and Delta. This works helps give water quality regulators information they need to manage the Estuary effectively. Monitoring performed in the RMP determines spatial patterns and long term trends in contamination through sampling of water, sediment, bivalves, and fish, and evaluates toxic effects on sensitive organisms and chemical loading to the Bay.

SFEI publishes an annual "Pulse of the Estuary" summarizing the work, results and trends from the Regional Monitoring Program and other significant science efforts. The "Pulse" and additional information are available through SFEI at www.sfei.org/rmp/rmp_prog_info.html

Interagency Ecological Program (IEP)

Begun in 1970, the Interagency Ecological Program (IEP) for the San Francisco Bay / Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary consists of ten member agencies, three State (Department of Water Resources, Department of Fish and Game, and State Water Resources Control Board), six Federal (Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Reclamation, Geological Survey, Army Corps of Engineers, National Marine Fisheries Service, and Environmental Protection Agency), and also includes the San Francisco Estuarine Institute. These ten program partners work together to develop a better understanding of the estuary's ecology and the effects of the State Water Project (SWP) and Federal Central Valley Project (CVP) operations on the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the San Francisco Bay-Delta estuary.

The IEP publishes a quarterly newsletter describing the program's latest research and monitoring results and sponsors an annual conference where researchers and the public are able to share information. More information about the IEP can be found at www.iep.ca.gov

CALFED Science Program

The CALFED Bay-Delta Program is a collaboration among 25 state and federal agencies that came together with a mission to improve California's water supply and the ecological health of the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The CALFED Science Program funds scientific research critical in achieving its mission of establishing unbiased and authoritative knowledge directly relevant to CALFED actions. The goal of funding this research is to invest in knowledge that will fundamentally advance the understanding of the complex environments/systems within the CALFED jurisdiction to aid policy-makers and managers. Science Program objectives include 1) identifying scientific unknowns of the highest priority to the CALFED community; 2) soliciting for and supporting new scientific studies that closely investigate these scientific unknowns; 3) Thoroughly analyzing what is learned through unbiased scientific review; and 4) Clearly articulating what is learned through publications, conferences, workshops, and web-sites.

The geographic area of focused research is the CALFED Bay-Delta System which includes California's Sacramento and San Joaquin River watersheds and the San Francisco Estuary with a focus on the Delta. More...

U.S. Geological Survey Continuous Monitoring in the San Francisco Bay and Delta

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has continuously monitored suspended-solids concentrations, temperature, salinity, and water level at many sites through the San Franicsco Bay and Delta since 1989 in order to approve our knowledge of how the Bay works. USGS makes time series data of salinity, temperature, water level, and suspended solids concentrations available through its web site to scientists, resource managers, educators and the general public. Data availability varies among the sites and is limited to time series between 1989 and 2005.

For more information, click here.