The SFEI stormwater team has developed robot samplers to pump up sips of stormwater runoff during rainstorms so we can test for pollution. Now, it’s prime time to name the 15 new samplers that we’ll deploy in the field across the Bay Area this upcoming wet season. Naming these devices helps us keep track of equipment and troubleshoot issues.
This is where you come in! We’re crowdsourcing some names for the samplers, similar to Minnesota's snowplow naming contest. The stormwater team loves funny or punny names (think “The Big Sipper,” “Liter of the Pack,” etc.), so be creative and have fun with your submissions!
If you’re up for accepting the challenge and helping us out, please submit your ideas by August 25. Winners will be announced in the fall.
Why Sample Stormwater?
The stormwater team jokes that designing the devices has been “a mad scientist collaborative effort.” But even though we’ve had fun making and naming them, they serve a very serious purpose. We’ll analyze the water samples collected for various pollutants, including toxic “forever chemicals” (PFAS) that don’t break down in the environment.
In 2023, we published one of the world’s most complete studies of emerging contaminants in urban stormwater runoff. We found that some of these chemicals are just as concentrated in the runoff as they are in treated sewage. Because most urban stormwater runoff flows to San Francisco Bay untreated, understanding where chemicals are coming from can help protect water quality in the Bay.
How Do They Work?
Our stormwater scientists keep close tabs on the weather all winter long. When a storm is about to roll in, they’ll pre-program and deploy these robot samplers to do their bidding along creeks and culverts. The samplers pump up small volumes (“sips”) of stormwater over the course of the storm and fill up the attached sample bottles.
These samplers will help us expand our stormwater monitoring program and reduce sampling costs. With their help, we can sample more storm events, at more sites, with fewer people during each storm.
When rainstorms wash contaminants into the Bay, scientists can only sample stormwater in a few places at once. Three years of inventing and testing have led to a solution in the form of 15 briefcase-sized robots, with names like “Captain Capture” and “Missus Sippy,” to slurp up samples without human supervision onsite.
Winning Stormwater Robot Names Selected
Meet Captain Capture, Pre Sipitation, and our 13 other stormwater sampling robots we named with help from the public.
Storms drive emerging contaminants into the Bay
Rainfall washes contaminants from urban landscapes to San Francisco Bay, degrading water quality. In the latest RMP Update, we highlight the findings of a major multi-year screening study to quantify hundreds of emerging contaminants in stormwater.