February 2010San Francisco Bay Faces Many ChallengesBy Mary PurpuraLast fall’s Dubai Star oil spill, coming less than two years after the Cosco Busan debacle, reminded Bay Area residents of the bay eco-system’s vulnerability. While changes in municipal sewage treatment systems have led to improved water quality, challenges remain related to storm water runoff, invasive species, coastal development, climate change and oil spills. “The bay belongs to all of us living in the Bay Area,” said Jessica Castelli, communications director for Save the Bay, the oldest regional organization dedicated to the bay’s health. “Our economy and quality of life here depend on a healthy bay.” What happens in one part of the bay can impact the entire water body. “Things spread and move in a fluid environment,” said Jackie Dragon, marine sanctuaries campaign director for Pacific Environment, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting the Pacific Rim’s environment. Contaminants, oil, and pollutants that find their way into the bay can quickly move around. “When we talk about restoring the bay to health, we’re mainly talking about restoring coastal wetlands,” explained Castelli. “At Save the Bay, we’re working to re-establish 100,000 acres of restored wetlands. That’s the minimum that’s essential to maintain a healthy San Francisco Bay.” According to Castelli, just under 50,000 acres have been restored. “Healthy wetlands provide habitat for endangered species; filter pollutants that flow into the bay from storm drains; and provide natural flood control, which we need to combat rising water levels resulting from climate change,” said Castelli. Various projects planned around the bay would destroy any future ability to restore the land to healthy wetland status. Coastal development creates a litany of ecological woes, including the elimination of habitat, decreased biodiversity, and pollution. And development projects that impact the bay are typically debated as if they are local issues, rather than activities with potentially far-reaching effects for all Bay Area residents, whether human, avian, marine, or plant. The east bay city of Hayward is planning to allow CalPine, a Fortune 500 power company, to construct a 600-megawatt power plant on the shores of the bay, adjacent to the Hayward Regional Shoreline. Lennar Corporation the City and County of San Francisco are planning to construct 10,500 housing units on largely bay front land, including property that was formerly a state park. Redwood City is considering a proposal by Cargill, Inc. — another Fortune 500 company and the country’s largest privately held corporation — and its development partner, luxury home builder DMB Associates, to construct 12,000 homes on a salt pond site. “That Redwood City land represents nearly 1,400 acres of coast that could be restored; the single largest parcel of restore-able wetlands available for rehabilitation in the bay,” said Castelli. These projects, if they go forward, mean that coastline that could be returned to healthy wetlands will be permanently set aside for human habitation. “The San Francisco Bay today is one-third smaller than it was when California became a state,” said Will Travis, executive director of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC), the first state coastal management agency in the world. “When BCDC was founded in 1965, there were proposals to fill another sixty percent of the bay. Our primary charge was to make sure the bay didn’t get any smaller.” While BCDC has a regional perspective, it can’t override local governments’ development plans. “In the Bay Area, no regional agency has the authority to supercede local development plans,” explained Travis. “And the interests of local government, such as generating revenue or creating jobs, don’t always coincide with the best ecological interests of the bay.” “People need to become aware of the issues facing the bay, and to address those issues in a personal way and in a public policy-oriented way,” said John Callaway, a professor in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of San Francisco. “With something like climate change, it’s difficult to motivate people to act when the major negative impacts resulting from not acting won’t be felt for another fifty to one hundred years.” Scientists widely agree that a worst-case climate change scenario would result in a more than three-foot rise in sea level by 2100, creating a very different San Francisco Bay. “We haven’t done anything to seriously address climate change, but we can’t simply continue with the status quo or there will be drastic negative results,” said Callaway. “Concerned individuals should join local and regional restoration projects and clean-up events, which are going on all the time.” “At Save the Bay, we recommend a series of actions,” said Castelli. “First, reduce your use of plastics. Ninety percent of the trash in the bay is plastic; it never biodegrades, it pollutes the water, and it kills wildlife that mistake it for food. We estimate that one million plastic bags end up in the bay every year. Second, be aware of trash and pollutants that can flow into storm drains. San Francisco is the only city in the Bay Area with a combined sewer and storm drain system, so San Francisco treats its storm drain water before it goes into the bay. But in the rainy season, that’s a problem: overflow can result in trash, untreated storm drain water, and even sewage being dumped into the bay. It just becomes too much for the system to accommodate. Third, drive less, so less of everything that leaks from the bottom of our cars ends up in the bay via storm drains. Fourth, sign up on our website to join our volunteer efforts.” To sign up for volunteer projects or to subscribe to Save the Bay’s free e-newsletter, visit savesfbay.org. BCDC’s website includes maps of projected sea level rise resulting from climate change: http://www.bcdc.ca.gov/planning/climate_change/index_maps.shtml.
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