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Filters: Author is Lester Mckee  [Clear All Filters]
2015
Wu, J.; Kauhanen, P.; Mckee, L. 2015. GreenPlan-IT Toolkit Demonstration Report. SFEI Contribution No. 958. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.

GreenPlan-IT is a planning level tool that was developed by SFEP and SFEI with support and oversight from BASMAA to provide Bay Area municipalities with the ability to evaluate multiple management alternatives using green infrastructure for addressing stormwater issues in urban watersheds. GreenPlan-IT combines sound science and engineering principles with GIS analysis and optimization techniques to support the cost-effective selection and placement of Green Infrastructure (GI) at a watershed scale.  Tool outputs can be used to develop quantitatively-derived watershed master plans to guide future GI implementation for improving water quality in the San Francisco Bay and its tributary watersheds.

This report provides an overview of the GreenPlan-IT Tool and demonstrates its utility and power through two pilot studies which is summarized in this report as a case study. The pilot studies with the City of San Mateo and the City of San Jose explored the use of GreenPlan-IT for identifying feasible and optimal GI locations for mitigation of stormwater runoff. They are provided here to give the reader an overview of the user application process from start to finish, including problem formulation, data collection, GIS analysis, establishing a baseline condition, GI representation, and the optimization process. Through the pilot study application process the general steps and recommendations for how GreenPlan-IT can be applied and interpreted are presented.

Wu, J.; Kauhanen, P.; Mckee, L. 2015. GreenPlan-IT Toolkit User Guide. SFEI Contribution No. 958. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.

Structurally, the GreenPlan-IT is comprised of three components: (a) a GIS-based Site Locator Tool to identify potential GI sites; (b) a Modeling Tool that quantifies anticipated watershed-scale runoff and pollutant load reduction from GI sites; and (c) an Optimization Tool that uses a cost-benefit analysis to identify the best combinations of GI types and number of sites within a watershed for achieving flow and/or load reduction goals. The three tool components were designed as standalone modules to provide flexibility and their interaction is either through data exchange, or serving as a subroutine to another tool. This user manual addresses each of the tools separately, though they are designed to complement each other.

2019
Gilbreath, A.; Hunt, J.; Mckee, L. 2019. Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring Progress Report, Water Years 2015-2018. SFEI Contribution No. 942. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.
 (3.37 MB)
2020
Gilbreath, A.; Hunt, J.; Mckee, L. 2020. Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring Progress Report, Water Years 2015 - 2019. SFEI Contribution No. 987. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.

Reconnaissance monitoring for water years 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 was completed with funding provided by the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay (RMP). This report is designed to be updated each year until completion of the study. At least one additional water year (2020) is underway. An earlier draft of this report was prepared for the Bay Area Stormwater Management Agencies Association (BASMAA) in support of materials submitted on or before March 31st 2020 in compliance with the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit (MRP) Order No. R2-2015-0049.

 (1.6 MB)
Mckee, L.; Lowe, J.; Dusterhoff, S.; Foley, M.; Shaw, S. 2020. Sediment Monitoring and Modeling Strategy. Sediment Monitoring and Modeling Strategy. SFEI Contribution No. 1016. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.
 (779.08 KB)
2021
Zi, T.; Kauhanen, P.; Whipple, A.; Mckee, L. 2021. Green Stormwater Infrastructure Planning-level Analysis for Livermore-Amador Valley. SFEI Contribution No. 1063. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, Calif.

Report CoverThis effort is intended to provide planning-level regional guidance for placement of green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) in Livermore-Amador Valley. This work identifies potential GSI locations and quantifies contaminant load and stormwater runoff volume reduction benefits through the application of GreenPlan-IT, a planning tool developed by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and regional partners. Ultimately, the urban greening analysis presented in this report is intended to help enhance stream and watershed resilience, reduce peak flows, and improve water quality.

 (20.75 MB) (12.19 MB)
Zi, T.; Mckee, L.; Yee, D.; Foley, M. 2021. San Francisco Bay Regional Watershed Modeling Progress Report, Phase 1. SFEI Contribution No. 1038. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.
 (8.84 MB)
Pearce, S.; Mckee, L.; Whipple, A.; Church, T. 2021. Towards a Coarse Sediment Strategy for the Bay Area. SFEI Contribution No. 1032. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.

Historic and current regional management of watersheds and channels for water supply and flood control across the San Francisco Bay Area has cut off much of the coarse sediment that was historically delivered to the Bay. Here we define coarse sediment as having grain sizes larger than 0.0625 mm, which includes sand, gravel and even cobble, as opposed to fine sediment that includes clay, mud and silt. Future projections indicate that sediment supply will not meet the demand from extant and restored tidal marshes to keep up with sea level rise.


The US EPA Water Quality Improvement Fund Preparing for the Storm grant has funded the Zone 7 Water Agency, the San Francisco Estuary Institute and the San Francisco Bay Joint Venture to support the future development of a successful regional coarse sediment reuse strategy. Development of such a strategy requires an understanding of logistical and regulatory hurdles and identification of key strategies for breaking down barriers. One potential solution for meeting the sediment demand along the Bay margin is to utilize coarse sediment that is removed from flood control channels by public agencies. To-date, very little of this sediment that is removed is beneficially reused for restoration along the Bay shoreline. The current economic and regulatory framework around sediment removal presents many challenges, barriers and lack of incentives for agencies to reuse their sediment.

This document represents a step forward towards beneficially reusing coarse flood control channel sediment by outlining reuse challenges, and identifying incentives for participation and potential solutions.

 (6.11 MB) (11.71 MB)
2022
Mckee, L.; Gilbreath, A.; Sabin, L. 2022. Small Tributaries Pollutants of Concern Reconnaissance Monitoring: Application of Storm-event Loads and Yields-Based and Congener-Based PCB Site Prioritization Methodologies. SFEI Contribution No. 1067.

Stormwater agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area are identifying watershed areas that are polluted with PCBs in order to prioritize management efforts to reduce impairment in the Bay caused by PCBs carried in stormwater. Water sampling during storms has been used to characterize PCB concentrations but management prioritization based on the comparison of concentrations between watersheds is made difficult due to variations in flow and sediment erosion between storms and in relation to varying land use. In addition, identifying PCB source areas within priority watersheds has proven complex and costly. To address these challenges, the San Francisco Bay Regional Monitoring Program (RMP) has developed two new interpretive methods based on storm-event PCB yields (PCBs mass per unit area per unit time) and fingerprints of Aroclors (commercial PCB mixtures) that make existing data more useful for decision-making. 

The objectives of this study were to: 

  • Apply the yield method to the regional stormwater dataset and provide new rankings, 
  • Estimate the presence of Aroclors in samples where congener data are available
  • Evaluate data weaknesses and recommend watersheds to resample, and
  • Classify watersheds into high, medium, and low categories for potential management.
 (4.33 MB) (1.24 MB) (989.4 KB) (1.83 MB)
2023
Gilbreath, A. N.; Stark, K.; Pearce, S.; Mckee, L. 2023. Suspended Sediment Loads Analysis of Four Creeks in the San Francisco Bay Area. SFEI Contribution No. 1134. San Francisco Estuary Institute: Richmond, CA.
 (4.92 MB) (7.33 MB) (5.1 MB) (7.5 MB) (7.67 MB)