San Francisco Bay

Strategic Plan to Protect California Coast and Ocean 2020-2025

California Ocean Protection Council (COPC) | February 26th, 2020

Strategic stream gauging network design for sustainable water management

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | June 3rd, 2024

Stream gauging stations that monitor the flow of water in rivers and streams provide critical information to water managers, but biases and gaps in gauge placement, compo

Stream gauging stations that monitor the flow of water in rivers and streams provide critical information to water managers, but biases and gaps in gauge placement, compounded by gauge deactivations, limit our ability to track river flows and address global water challenges. Here we introduce an approach for identifying gauging sites to efficiently fill gaps in monitoring coverage within river networks while also addressing water management priorities, including reservoir operations, biodiversity conservation and hydroclimatic monitoring. Applying this approach to gauges in California, United States, we found substantial gaps in the stream monitoring network. Hypothetically reconfiguring gauges to locations that maximize coverage and representation of management objectives highlights the current network’s biases. Through the strategic reactivation and placement of additional gauges, we demonstrate how stream gauging networks can be designed to support sustainable water management.

Strategic Workplan for Activities in the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary

California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) | July 16th, 2008

Strategy for In-Bay Fate Modeling to Support Contaminant and Sediment Management in San Francisco Bay

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) | August 15th, 2022

This report presents a strategy and multi-year workplan for modeling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and sediment in San Franci

This report presents a strategy and multi-year workplan for modeling polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and sediment in San Francisco Bay (the Bay). Robust in-Bay fate modeling is needed to address priority management questions that have been identified for these constituents.

Stratigraphic Analysis of Corte Madera Creek Flood Control Channel Deposits

U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | September 3rd, 2019

Sedimentation in a channel can reduce flood conveyance capability and potentially place nearby property and life at risk from flooding. In 1998, Marin County Public Works

Sedimentation in a channel can reduce flood conveyance capability and potentially place nearby property and life at risk from flooding. In 1998, Marin County Public Works dredged the concrete-lined segment of Corte Madera Creek, which drains a hilly and largely urbanized watershed that terminates in San Francisco Bay, California. From then through 2015, approximately 4,100 cubic meters of sand and gravel infilled the concrete-lined segment. Determining when and under what conditions this material was deposited informs dredging operations for the Corte Madera Creek Flood Control Project and increases understanding of sediment delivery timing and mechanisms from this and other San Francisco Bay tributaries. Two hypothesized scenarios were investigated: (1) complete flushing during high flows and re-deposition of channel fill afterward and (2) more steady, gradual channel infilling. Stratigraphic analysis of eight sediment cores collected from the flood-control channel deposits in August 2017 was used to identify the most likely scenario. In addition, sediment elevation profiles, grain-size data, and a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model were used to assess the potential for longitudinal-channel scour and deposition following the wet winter of water year 2017 in the intertidal reach of the concrete channel in Corte Madera Creek. Results indicated the channel is undergoing gradual infilling. Storm flows of water year 2017 did not completely scour the concrete channel fill. Sediment cores, stratigraphic analysis, and sediment elevation profiles indicated 0.23 meter of scour at the downstream end of the concrete-lined section and that roughly 0.5 meter of channel fill remained in the channel. The hydrodynamic model demonstrated that sediment deposition in the concrete channel is expected to start downstream from the point where the channel bed reaches mean lower low-water level. High flows can carry most of the sediment through this segment of channel, depositing the bed-material load downstream from the transition to a wide channel, where velocity and bed shear stress decrease abruptly. Although the storm flows of 2017 did not completely scour the channel fill, subsequent material deposited in the channel could be transported downstream from the concrete channel if the sediment elevation profile is in equilibrium with present (2019) mean sea level. A calibrated, coupled hydrodynamic-sediment transport model could be used to test the present equilibrium between sediment elevation profiles and mean sea level, such that additional sediment build-up in the concrete channel is remobilized during subsequent wet-season flows and deposited downstream from the concrete-lined segment.

Stress Relief: Prescriptions for a Healthier Delta Ecosystem

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) | April 22nd, 2013

California is at a critical juncture on policy for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This report summarizes the results of a wide-ranging study of cost-effective ways t

California is at a critical juncture on policy for the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. This report summarizes the results of a wide-ranging study of cost-effective ways to improve the health of the Delta ecosystem. It highlights the need for science-based, integrated management of the many sources of ecosystem stress. The report also recommends improvements to the highly fragmented system of oversight that now involves dozens of federal, state, and local agencies.

Study of Potential for Groundwater Contamination from Past Dry Cleaner Operations in Santa Clara County

Santa Clara Valley Water District | September 20th, 2007

The threat of groundwater contamination posed by dry cleaning operations is primarily a legacy issue. Dry cleaners today have greatly improved usage and handling of solve

The threat of groundwater contamination posed by dry cleaning operations is primarily a legacy issue. Dry cleaners today have greatly improved usage and handling of solvents. Perchloroethylene (PCE) remains the most prevalent solvent used for dry cleaning. Dry cleaning machinery has evolved substantially and is designed to be leak-proof, air-tight, and to minimize waste generation. Dry cleaning facilities are subject to multiple permits, and are regularly inspected. A few dry cleaners have switched to “environmentally safe” solvents in their operations. Failures and operator error can nonetheless occur, representing a minor continuing threat to groundwater. The greater threat to groundwater quality is from past dry cleaning operations from as long as 50 years ago, a threat which remains significant today. This study catalogued the locations and years of operations for current and former dry cleaning operations in Santa Clara County. Past dry cleaner operational practices, solvent usage, groundwater subbasin vulnerability, and municipal supply well vulnerability are explored to develop a system to rank the relative risk of groundwater contamination from dry cleaner solvent releases. The systematic ranking of the threat posed by dry cleaners provides a means of prioritizing dry cleaning sites for further investigation. The ranking system will be useful to regulatory agencies for determining which cases warrant more aggressive investigation and remediation.

Suisun Marsh Monitoring Program Annual Data Summary Water Year 1999

California Department of Water Resources (DWR) | July 31st, 2001

This report summarizes data collected in the Suisun Marsh during Water Year 1999 (October 1, 1998 through September 30, 1999) pursuant to the following agreements, perm

This report summarizes data collected in the Suisun Marsh during Water Year 1999 (October 1, 1998 through September 30, 1999) pursuant to the following agreements, permits, and water rights decisions: • State Water Resources Control Board Decision 1485, August 1978 (SWRCB 1978); • State Water Resources Control Board Order WR 95-6, 1995 (SWRCB 1995a); • Suisun Marsh Preservation Agreement, 1987 (USBR and others 1987); • Suisun Marsh Monitoring Agreement, 1987 (DWR and others 1987); • San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Permit No. 35-78 (M) Amendment 7, 1997 (for construction of the initial facilities, namely the Roaring River Distribution System, Morrow Island Distribution System, and Goodyear Slough Outfall) (BCDC 1997); • San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission Permit No. 4-84 (M) Amendment 4, 1991 (for construction of the Suisun Marsh Salinity Control Gates) (1991); and, • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Permit No. 16223E58 (for construction of the Suisun Marsh Salinity Control Gates), Special Condition 1, 1986 (USACE 1986). This report fulfills a portion of the annual reporting requirements of the above-listed, agreements, permits, and water rights decisions as detailed in Table 1. Remaining reporting requirements will be fulfilled in other Department of Water Resources (DWR) and/or University of California Davis reports. DWR and the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) primarily collected data summarized in this report. The data include • general hydrologic data; • continuous channel water specific conductance and tidal height measurements; • marsh-wide vegetation survey update; • waterfowl abundance; and • salt marsh harvest mouse occurrence.

Summary and Evaluation of Central Valley Spring-run Chinook Salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit 2016

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) | April 13th, 2016

The ESA, under Section 4(c)(2), directs the Secretary of Commerce to review the listing classification of threatened and endangered species at least once every five years

The ESA, under Section 4(c)(2), directs the Secretary of Commerce to review the listing classification of threatened and endangered species at least once every five years. After completing this review, the Secretary must determine if any species should be: (1) removed from the list; (2) have its status changed from threatened to endangered; or (3) have its status changed from endangered to threatened. The most recent status reviews for West Coast salmon and steelhead occurred in 2010, and prior to that in 2005 and 2006. This document summarizes NMFS’s 5-year review of the ESA-listed Central Valley (CV) spring-run Chinook salmon Evolutionarily Significant Unit (ESU).

Summary Matrix of the NMFS and Service Coordinated Long-term Operation BiOps RPA actions

Delta Stewardship Council (Delta Council) | July 1st, 2019