Biology 315 - Estuary Project Paper

Estuary Project Paper

Lindsey Sessions

BIO/315

June 5, 2017

Jeba Inbarasu

Humans have always depended on nature to support us. From the trees for shelter to the fish in the stream for sustenance to the pearls from oysters to trade – it is part of everyday life. Where the river meets the ocean there is a special place called an estuary. Estuaries are one of nature’s nurseries that humans are dependent upon for not only food, but shelter and trade as well. The world’s largest estuary sits on the California coast line in San Francisco Bay. This estuary is a combination of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers dumping their fresh water into the Pacific Ocean. The estuaries, delta, and watershed provide drinking water to 20 million residents of California, and irrigation water to 4 million acres of farmland. There are 12 Bay-Delta counties that rely on the water from the San Francisco Bay and Delta; these 12 counties are comprised of over one million acres of urban land (Rubissow & Marcis, 1997). Maintaining the health of the estuary is essential for life in that area, that is why there is The San Francisco Estuary Project. “The San Francisco Estuary Project (SFEP) was established in 1987 under the Clean Water Act’s Section 320: The National Estuary Program (NEP) to develop and implement a Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the Estuary,” (San Francisco Estuary Project Implementation Committee, 2017). With human awareness and programs like these, the estuary stands a fighting chance of surviving alongside us.

Health of the Estuary

 The San Francisco Area is fast growing, as it is the 4th most populated city in California.  Its population has been growing at about 90,000 people a year this decade. As natural when dealing with any growing population, more stress and pollution are put into the environment. Given that the San Francisco Bay is staggering with river mouths, the estuary and the bay have to deal with not only local pollution but all pollutants introduced up river that end in the bay. The estuaries’ biodiversity, in turn, has seen many population fluctuations at risk in the balance. Sharks have been dying off, putting stress on overpopulation from the feeders, and algae growth is on the rise interfering with the invertebrates in the area. The San Francisco Bay Estuary, at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers in central California, is renowned for its natural beauty, international commerce, recreation, and sports fishing. However, the estuary has been greatly modified by 150 years of intensifying human activity (Nichols et al., 1986). Humans have diverted rivers, dredged the bottom, and filled in areas all to the detriment of the estuary. The status of half of the Delta and Suisun indicators is fair (including water quality and the organisms low in the food web). The other half are in poor condition (including freshwater inflows, beneficial flooding, open water and tidal marsh habitats, and fish communities).

In contrast, the status of most bay indicators is fair, including water quality, tidal marsh habitat, wildlife populations from harbor seals to birds, and human stewardship of the environment from trash clean up to water conservation (San Francisco Estuary Project Implementation Committee, 2017). Humans have used the bay, not just inhabited it, but thanks to science the community is now more aware of their personal impact on the bay. Continued population growth will involve major decisions about where to place new housing developments, new commerce and industries will have to be closely regulated and monitored, while all of it combined are reducing the impacts on the estuary. The area they have available for development would span just over 39,000 acres of wetlands within the 12 counties, and would degrade 28,000 acres of streams and escalate the pollution on all levels in the estuary, delta, and bay. Along with the damage to the wetlands the continuous housing developments being built will also cause major land erosion. Land disturbance connected to construction grading for site preparation and insignificant farming practices will increases soil erosion leading to increased levels of sediments and construction run off like plastics and plasters in surface water.