Fri, Apr 2 2021

Trees, Hydrology, Urban-Greening, and Nature-Based Solutions

Two key reports support nature-based solutions. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and enhancements to the urban tree canopy offer benefits to stormwater management, urban ecological improvements, and complementary urban greening activities.

On KGO TV, these projects were featured on July 1, 2021.

Fri, Dec 4 2020

Toxic Tire Contaminant Found in Bay Area Stormwater

Scientists at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) have found a highly toxic tire-related contaminant at levels lethal to coho salmon in stormwater flowing through four sites in the Bay Area. The contaminant, derived from a tire preservative, has been discovered by Washington state researchers to be responsible for high levels of coho salmon deaths in Puget Sound streams. These findings will inform a petition by state stormwater leaders to the Department of Toxic Substances Control to address pollution of California streams caused by tires.

Tue, Nov 10 2020 - Fri, Mar 5 2021

Big problem, small size: Improving methods in microplastics research

When it comes to plastic pollution, that candy wrapper half buried in the dirt is only the tip of the iceberg. Plastic bags, cigarette butts, and bottle caps are not just an eyesore, but over time they break down in the environment, creating small pieces of debris known as microplastics.

Thu, May 7 2020

PFAS Stays in San Francisco Bay

SFEI senior scientist, Dr. Rebecca Sutton, published a new study in the journal Chemosphere showing that it will take almost 50 years for PFOA concentrations in water to stabilize in San Francisco Bay. This pales in comparison to the trajectory of PFOS concentrations that will not stabilize in sediment and fish for 500 years. PFOS and PFOA are harmful to humans, causing liver damage, endocrine disruption, fertility decrease, and cancer.

Fri, Oct 4 2019

The Guardian publishes on article on SFEI's microplastics study, further extending the report's reach

Maanvi Singh from the US edition of the Guardian, based in the UK, writes, “It was basically everywhere we looked,” said Rebecca Sutton, an environmental scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, a local institution that led the three-year, $1.1m research effort.

Fri, Oct 4 2019

Wired Magazine: A new report shows an astounding amount of microplastics, largely from car tires, are tainting the watershed

Matt Simon from Wired Magazine writes:

Thu, Oct 3 2019

Groundbreaking SFEI and 5 Gyres microplastics study featured in multiple media outlets

Concurrent with a sold-out symposium on Oct 2nd, media outlets, including the Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times, have released the articles relating the alarming findings regarding the pervasive presence of microplastics in our surface waters.

Wed, Oct 2 2019

San Jose Mercury News highlights the findings of an SFEI microplastics report

Paul Rogers released an article in the San Jose Mercury News regarding this microplastics study, sharing its findings with the public.

Wed, Oct 2 2019

In LA Times: The SF Bay Microplastics study called "the most comprehensive study to date on microplastics in California."

Rosanna Xia with the LA Times relates some important findings from the new microplastics study, released today by SFEI and 5 Gyres:

Wed, Oct 2 2019

SF Chronicle: Huge amounts of plastic, much of it from car tires, washing into SF Bay, SFEI study finds

The San Francisco Chronicle highlighted some of the surprising and alarming findings produced by the Microplastics project:

Mon, Sep 30 2019

Newly published study shows rain gardens can filter PCBs, metals — and microplastics

A new study from SFEI assessing the ability of rain gardens to remove contaminants from urban stormwater has shown that nature-based filtration may also be a solution

Thu, Sep 26 2019

RMP Annual Meeting and Pulse of the Bay Report

With a planned release of October 10th, the 2019 edition of The Pulse of the Bay will feature articles on the four major pollutant pathways that are the primary focus of Bay water quality managers: municipal wastewater, industrial wastewater, s

Thu, Sep 26 2019

SFEI Provides Science Leadership and Support for State of the Estuary Report and Conference

The San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) brings together the estuarine community every two years at the State of the Estuary Conference and, periodically, SFEP also reports on the State of the Estuary, summarizing the latest scientific findings about ecosystem health.

Wed, Aug 28 2019

Associate Environmental Scientist

The San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI) seeks an environmental scientist or engineer to join the Clean Water program.  We are an interdisciplinary team investigating environmental contaminants, nutrient biogeochemistry and ecosystem responses, emerging contaminants, green infrastructure,

Wed, May 8 2019

SFEI's journal article on Green Stormwater Infrastructure featured as the Editor's Choice

A team led by Dr. Jing Wu penned a paper in January on using Green Stormwater Infrastructure to protect the Bay from PCBs and other contaminants.

Mon, Feb 4 - Fri, Jul 5 2019

Clean Water Program Journal Article: Optimal Selection and Placement of Green Infrastructure in Urban Watersheds for PCB Control

Green infrastructure, such as permeable pavement, rain gardens, tree-well planters, and bioswales, can provide cost-effective, resilient approaches to managing stormwater at its source while delivering environmental, social, and economic benefits. In January Dr.

Mon, Feb 4 - Fri, Jul 5 2019

RMP Journal Article: Characterization of brominated, chlorinated, and phosphate flame retardants in San Francisco Bay, an urban estuary

Dr. Rebecca Sutton and Jennifer Sun of SFEI, along with other colleagues from Jinan University in China, Southern Illinois University, and the California Academy of Sciences, recently published an article in the journal Science of the Total Environment on flame retardants in the Bay.

Mon, Feb 4 - Fri, Jul 5 2019

Introducing the New RMP Manager: Dr. Melissa Foley

SFEI is very pleased to announce that Dr. Melissa Foley joined our staff as the new RMP Manager in late December. She is a marine ecologist by training but an interdisciplinary scientist in practice.

Fri, Jan 18 - Thu, Jan 31 2019

GreenPlan-IT Tracker Released to the public

Municipalities across the state and beyond are carefully planning and implementing green infrastructure in their developed landscape to restore key aspects of the natural water cycle.

Fri, Jan 18 - Thu, Jan 31 2019

California Trash Data Dive 2018

On November 16, 2018, the project team helped to coordinate a Trash Data Dive convened by the State Water Board’s Office of Information Management and Analysis.

Fri, Dec 14 2018

Medicating the Bay: RMP Science featured in Estuary News

Highlighted in the December 2018 issue of Estuary News, a new report from the Bay’s Regional Monitoring Program documents the presence of numer

Thu, Sep 27 2018

Mapping Outside the Box: Visualizing Bay Landscapes in New Dimensions

The most recent meeting of the San Francisco Estuary Geospatial Workgroup featured Pete Kauhanen and Lindsey Sim of SFEI's Environmental program. This meeting focused on emerging technologies for visualizing the changing Bay around us.

Fri, Jun 29 2018

RMP Technical Report: Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in San Francisco Bay: Synthesis and Strategy

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a broad class of fluorine-rich specialty chemicals. More than 4,700 PFASs are used in consumer, commercial and industrial applications.

Fri, Jun 29 2018

New Solutions: Traveling on Sunlight

SFEI secured a grant from the Bay Area Air Quality District to partially fund SFEI’s installation of a set of three Solar Powered Electric Car Charging stations at the front of our offices.  These stations can charge up to four cars at a time.

Fri, Mar 9 2018

SFEI Science at International Marine Debris Conference (March 12-16)

SFEI science will feature prominently at the Sixth International Marine Debris Conference in San Diego next week:

Tue, Feb 20 2018

These scientists want you to rethink how you use plastics: SFEI and 5 Gyres issue a new video

The short (3-min) video summarizes the goals of the SF Bay Microplastics Project, which aims to better understanding the di

Fri, Dec 29 2017

Non-Sticks Stick Around: Estuary News highlights findings from new RMP study

Estuary News writer Kristine Wong interviewed SFEI’s Meg Sedlak, lead scientist on the latest RMP

Fri, Nov 24 2017

Local News: Scientists launch major study of microplastics pollution in San Francisco Bay

SFEI and The 5 Gyres Institute have launched an ambitious two-year research project to monitor San Francisco Bay for pollution in the form of tiny particles of plastic pollution, reports ABC7 News.

Wed, Nov 15 2017

Russian River Watershed Atlas helps track and coordinate post-fire activities

Fire recovery in the Russian River Watershed will benefit from a common online platform for compiling, visualizing, and interpreting many kinds of environmental data available from diverse federal, state, regional, and local sources.

Thu, Sep 21 2017

Hunting for Plastic in California’s Protected Ocean Waters

Rebecca Sutton, Meg Sedlak, and Diana Lin of SFEI, in partnership with Carolynn Box of 5 Gyres, conducted ocean water sampling associated with an ambitious project. The project is focused on determining the characteristics and fate of microplastics in the Bay and adjacent ocean waters. KQED reporter Lindsey Hoshaw published a story covering the team's activities along the California coast. After determinng that the Bay has greater than expected microplastic pollution, the science team, as reported by Hoshaw's story, is conducting further ground-breaking research.