RMP Microplastic Monitoring and Science Strategy Workshop

The RMP has conducted initial studies of microplastic pollution in San Francisco Bay. Findings from a screening-level RMP study of microplastic pollution in our Bay show widespread contamination at levels greater than other U.S. water bodies with high levels of urban development, the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Wildlife consume microplastic particles; ingestion can lead to physical harm, and can expose aquatic organisms to pollutants like PCBs that the plastics have absorbed from the surrounding environment.

In a story called "Synthetic Clothes May Be Polluting San Francisco Bay," KGO-TV's Dan Ashley interviews SFEI's Rebecca Sutton, UC Davis professor Susan Williams, and Jim Erin from the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Treatment Facility about the proliferation of synthetic fibers in the Bay. Such fibers may come from fleece jackets and other clothing produced from artifical fabrics.

December's issue of Estuary News features an article, "Unhealthy Fiber in Bay Diet," that highlights the surprising result of a preliminary study of Bay microplastic pollution, which suggested that San Francisco Bay has higher levels of microplastic than other major urban waterbodies in the US for which data are available. Using nets and sieves designed to capture very small particles, scientists with the Regional Monitoring Program for Water Quality in San Francisco Bay filtered samples of Bay surface water and wastewater treatment plant effluent.

Rebecca Sutton, senior scientist at SFEI, describes the hazards presented by microplastics in the Bay's waters. "Plastic pollution: Billions of pieces of tiny plastic litter found in San Francisco Bay," a news article by Paul Rogers reports on findings in a recently published study for which Rebecca Sutton serves as lead author. What the researchers discovered, the high degree of plastic contamination, surprised them.