The December issue of Estuary News provides a timely overview of stormwater pollution concerns and management directions

Ariel Rubissow-Okamoto’s article “Stormwater: Beyond the Bag Ban,” based on interviews with SFEI Senior Scientist Lester McKee, BASMAA program representatives Chris Sommers and Matt Fabry, and Tom Mumley of the Water Board provides a timely overview of stormwater pollution concerns and management directions ahead of the reissuance of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES permit (MRP).

The article includes:

• A summary of the progress made on plastic bag and clamshell food container bans in the Bay Area as part of a substantial endeavor by Bay Area stormwater agencies to reduce trash, PCB, Hg, and other pollutant loads, and add more green infrastructure as part of a long term management plan.
• An overview of the rationale and shift from the hidden “underground” stormwater management by pipes and channels built over the past 100 years to above-ground green elements with multiple benefits for community, pollutant management, and habitat being planned for the next 10-30 years.
• A nice high level commentary on the encouraging scientific results of efforts to find and manage pollutants mostly in the older industrial areas of our urban landscape, including the encouraging results of the stormwater loading surveys and LID performance studies by SFEI scientists McKee, Yee, Hunt, David, Gilbreath, Wu, Kauhanen, and Marshall.
• A timely discussion on the latest management and policy directions being crafted as part of the next version of the Municipal Regional Stormwater NPDES permit, often referred to as MRP 2.0.

We welcome you to learn more by reading the entire article.