SAN FRANCISCO BAY
THE TMDL PROCESS
CURRENT TMDL PROJECTS
COORDINATED
APPROACH
Clean Estuary Partnership
San Francisco Bay Regional Water
Quality Control Board
Bay Area Clean Water Agencies
MERCURY TMDL
MERCURY TMDL
Sierra Gold Mines
Legacy Sources
Throughout Bay
Sediments
Guadalupe River
(Mercury Mines)
MERCURY TMDL
The Problem: Toxic, Persistent,
Transforms to Methylmercury,
Bioaccumulative
Beneficial Uses Impacted: Sport
(Subsistence) Fishing, Wildlife Habitat,
Rare and Endangered Species
Current Mercury Loads
/Proposed Allocations
SOURCE Existing Allocation Per Cent
kg/yr kg/yr Reduction
Sediments 460 220 53%
Upstream Sources (Central Valley) 440 330 25%
Urban Runoff 160 82 49%
Rural Runoff 25 25 0%
Historic Mercury Mine Drainage 92 2 98%
(Guadalupe River)
Atmosphere 27 27 0%
Wastewater 16 16 0%
TOTAL 1,220 702 42%
TMDL SUCCESS
Central Valley & Guadalupe
Watersheds – TMDLs
Urban Runoff – Storm Water
Management Plans
Sediment – Natural Remediation
REGULATORY ACTIONS
Mercury Basin Plan Amendment
proposed June 2004
Mercury Watershed Permit
ISSUES - POTWs
Limited to Current Loading
Compliance Problems
Strict Requirements
SF BAY AREA WASTEWATER
AGENCIES EFFORT
Pollution Prevention Programs
Dental Mercury Program
Flourescent bulb recycling
San Francisco Combined Sewer System
~60% TSS Removal in Storm Water
ISSUES – STORM WATER
Goal – 50% Waste Reduction
Storm Water Treatment Facilities
No Controls on Aerial Deposition
ISSUES – ENVIRONMENTAL
GROUPS
Inadequate Protection of Fishing
Community
No Controls on Aerial Deposition
UNANSWERED ???
Is Mercury Contamination
Controllable?
Does the Mercury TMDL Matter?
Will Hg TMDL Controls be Compatible
with Other TMDLs?
What Ultimate Costs can be Shouldered
to Protect the Watershed?