RMP Committees & Work Groups

Steering Committees | Technical Review Committees | Work Groups

RMP Steering Committee

(last update: January 2007)

The Steering Committee determines the overall budget, allocation of program funds, tracks progress, and provides direction to the Program from a manager’s perspective. The Steering Committee meets quarterly.

The steering committee is comprised of the following organizations and representatives:

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RMP Technical Review Committee

(last update: January 2007)

Oversight of the technical content and quality of the RMP is provided by the Technical Review Committee (TRC), which consists of technical representatives from the Regional Board and discharger groups, with technical support from SFEI staff. The Technical Review Committee meets quarterly.

The technical review committee is comprised of the following organizations and individuals:

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Workgroups

The main technical subject areas covered by the RMP are addressed by the following four workgroups: Sources, Pathways, and Loading Workgroup; Exposure and Effects Workgroup; Contaminant Fate Workgroup and Emerging Contaminant Workgroup. Workgroups consist of scientists who are currently studying the Bay, invited scientist who are nationally recognized experts in their field, and federal and state regulators. Each workgroup meets two to three times a year to address issues concerning the planning and implementation of Pilot and Special Studies. Activities of the workgroups are overseen by the RMP Technical Review Committee. The workgroups also address technical issues of interest to the Clean Estuary Partnership.

Exposure and Effects Workgroup (EEWG)

The RMP’s pilot study evaluates a balanced suite of contaminant exposure and effects indicators that respond to general and specific contamination at the biochemical, cellular, individual, population, and community level. It plans to evaluate contaminant effects and exposure in different media (on the bay floor, in the water column, and in wetlands/estuary margins), and at different spatial scales (site-specific, regionally, and estuary-wide). These initial overarching principles incorporate recommendations of the Effects Workgroup meetings held.

Work group Leads:

Meg Sedlak, SFEI

Jay Davis, SFEI

Agendas and Summaries of Past Meetings

Contaminant Fate Work Group (CFWG)

The Contaminant Fate Workgroup occupies the niche between the SPLWG, concerned with identifying and quantifying contaminant inputs to the estuary, and the EEWG, concerned with their exposure and ultimate effects on (primarily higher trophic level) biota in the ecosystem. The objective of the workgroup is to improve our understanding of physical, chemical, and biological processes that redistribute and transform contaminants in the estuary, ultimately leading to exposure of biota. Although reducing new sources and loadings of contaminants to the estuary is important, processes such as the erosion, resuspension, and deposition of contaminants from the legacy of pollution in the estuary will affect the health of the ecoystem for decades to come. Through improved information on estuary processes, we aim to assist managers in directing limited resources and prioritizing actions for reducing negative impacts, both for new contaminants entering the system as well as for legacy pollutants already in the estuary. Key components towards achieving these goals include reviewing the scientific literature, summarizing the state of our current knowledge, and using quantitative conceptual models to identify and prioritize areas in which improved information would most assist in making decisions and/or setting goals for ecosystem recovery. Workgroup members peer review these products, providing comments and recommendations based on their expertise in the estuary and other ecosystems. Once data gaps are identified, the CFWG works with other regional stakeholders such as the CEP towards developing or encouraging approaches to best collect the needed information.

Work group Leads:

John Oram, SFEI

Don Yee, SFEI

Agendas and Summaries of Past Meetings

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Sources, Pathways, and Loadings Workgroup (SPLWG)

The Regional Monitoring Program for Traces Substances (RMP) is an innovative collaborative effort created in 1993 between the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI), the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), and the regulated discharger community to develop an understanding the contaminant impacts on the beneficial uses of San Francisco Bay. In 1997 ,the RMP underwent a 5-year program review which helped to develop a revised set of RMP objectives including a new objective: “Describe general sources and loading of contamination to the Estuary” (Bernstein and O’Connor, 1997). The goal was to create a functional connection between the RMP and efforts to identify, eliminate, and prevent sources of pollution that influence the Bay. Guided by the new objective, the Sources, Pathways, and Loading Workgroup (SPLWG) was formed in early 1999 to produce recommendations for collection, interpretation, and synthesis of data on general sources and loading of trace contaminants to the Estuary. The first SPLWG recommendations were described in the first “Technical Report of the Sources Pathways and Loadings Workgroup” (Davis et al., 1999). Since that time the SPLWG has continued to provide management context and technical review on a series of desktop and field studies that largely followed the recommendations of Davis et al. (1999). The SPLWG ensures that the projects and products are relevant and help to answer ever developing management questions in the context of TMDLs and attainment of water quality standards. For further information, please contact Lester McKee at: ph 510 746 7363 or lester@sfei.org.

Work group Lead:

Lester McKee, SFEI

Agendas and Summaries of Past Meetings

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Emerging Contaminant Workgroup

The purpose of this workgroup is to evaluate the presence of emerging contaminants in the estuary. Emerging contaminants are defined as chemicals that are not currently regulated and believed to potentially pose significant ecological or human health risks (e.g., pharmaceuticals, pyrethroids, and perfluorinated compounds). Because these compounds are not regulated, relatively little information is available on their toxicity or their abundance in the environment, and consequently the magnitude of the risks are not well known at this time.

The scientific advisory panel consists of internationally known experts in this field including Dr. Derek Muir (Environment Canada), Dr. Jennifer Field (Oregon State University) and Dr. David Sedlak (University of California – Berkeley). RMP staff and the advisory panel are working to develop a target list of emerging contaminants; it is likely that the list will include the following compounds: triclosan (anti-bacterial), perfluorinated compounds (water/oil repellant used for a variety of applications including treatment textiles and food-grade containers), hexabromocyclodecane and tetrabromobisphenol A (flame retardants), octylmethoxy cinnamate/oxybenzone (sunscreens), musks (fragrances), atrazine (pesticide), and nonylphenol (surfactant).

Work group Lead:

Meg Sedlak , SFEI

Agendas and Summaries of Past Meetings

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In addition to the four workgroups identified above, every three years a fish monitoring committee meets to advise the RMP on its trennial sportfish monitoring program.

Fish Monitoring Committee Workgroup

The Regional Monitoring Program for Traces Substances (RMP) monitors contaminants in sport fish from San Francisco Bay on a 3-year cycle. The objectives for the RMP fish contamination monitoring element are:

1. to produce the information needed for updating human health advisories and conducting human health risk assessments;
2. to measure contaminant levels in fish species over time to track temporal trends and to evaluate the effectiveness of management efforts;
3. to evaluate spatial patterns in contamination of sport fish and the Bay food web; and
4. to understand factors that influence contaminant accumulation in sport fish in order to better resolve signals of temporal and spatial trends.

Work group Lead:

Jay Davis , SFEI

Agendas and Summaries of Past Meetings