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The State Water Resources Control Board initiated the Bay Protection and Toxics
Cleanup Program (BPTCP) in order to implement Section 13390-13396 of the California
Water Code (Chapter 5, Division 7). The main purpose of the monitoring portion of this
program is to identify "toxic hot spots". The Regional Board has been conducting studies
to develop the best methods for identifying toxic hot spots in San Francisco Bay, as well
as conducting shot term monitoring programs to actually identify these hotspots. A Pilot
Regional Monitoring Program has been conducted from 1991-1992 under the BPTCP that
measured levels of chemical contaminants in water, sediment and tissue and measured
toxicity in sediment and water using toxicity tests. This program was turned over to the
San Francisco Estuary Institute to administer as the San Francisco Estuary Regional
Monitoring program.
The San Francisco Bay Regional Quality Control Board is currently conducting
studies to: - identify a sediment reference site in San Francisco Bay, to
develop sediment toxicity tests that are applicable to San Francisco Bay, to develop
Toxicity Identification Evaluation (TIE) protocols to identify the chemicals causing
toxicity in sediment and,
- measure the levels of contamination in fish caught in San Francisco Bay. Monitoring will
commence in the fall of 1994 to confirm if there are biological impacts at sites that have
been identified as having high levels of contaminants or some level of toxicity.
For more information about this program element contact:
Karen Taberski, California Regional Water Quality Control Board
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