Pollutants of Concern
"Pollutants of Concern" (or POCs) refers to two broad categories of concern:
1) Pollutants such as mercury and PCBs that impair water quality like mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that have established plans to reduce them over time to levels that no longer impair uses of the Bay. The plans are necessary because mercury and PCB still occur at levels limiting human consumption of Bay fish because of legacy contamination, including places in our watersheds and sediments in San Francisico Bay. Low levels of legacy pollutants like mercury and PCBs are a challenge for managing stormwater in many urban communities. The MRP requires aggressive control measures to reduce these pollutants, supported by monitoring plans to identify potential sources and evaluate the effectiveness of corrective measures.
2) Pollutants such as nutrients and copper that have multiple sources, including urban stormwater, and warrant monitoring and investigation because of their potential to impair water quality. Monitoring helps support regional models that need to account for stormwater loads and provide updated evidence that impairments are not occurring.
Key Documents:
Major planning reports for mercury and PCBs summarize lessons learned and set expectations for future permits:
CCCWP's Mercury and PCBs Total Maximum Daily Load ( TMDL) Control Measure Plan and Reasonable Assurance Analysis shows the approach Permittees will follow to achieve pollutant load reduction goals. A TMDL plan sets goals for reducing pollutants from all sources and conveyances, including stormwater. Controlling these legacy pollutants in urban stormwater requires pollution prevention, source identification and reduction, and treatment by both Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) and enhanced maintenance of trash and sediment capture devices. The sections of this report show how the complete program of control measures will achieve load reduction goals over time, and summarize the costs and challenges of plan implementation.
- The main body of the report summarizes control measures, the implementation approach, the technical basis for expected benefits, and metrics successful implementation (PDF).
- Appendix A, the Reasonable Assurance Analysis (RAA), uses stormwater models to forecast the time frame to achieve load reduction goals (PDF).
- Appendix B, the Source Control Loads Reduction Acciounting for RAA, presents details of the accounting metrics translating control measures to loads reduced (PDF).
- Appendix C, the Conceptual Work PLan for PCB Source Area Assessment, shows the approach for investigating watersheds for potential properties that may be current PCB sources to the municipal storm drain system (PDF).
- Appendix D, the PCBs in Building Material Screening Assessment Package, defines the process for Permittees to guide the managers of building demolition projects to inspect for and remove PCB-containing building materials (e.g., caulk) prior to demolition (PDF).
- Appendx E provides regional guidance for conducting source area assessments (PDF).
- Appendix F outlines a methodology for estimating costs of GSI implementation (PDF).
- Appendix G describes scenarios for attaining required PCB loads over time (PDF).
- Appendix H summarizes the findings of a technical peer review of the RAA report (PDF).
Annual summaries of monitoring performed for POCs are provided as appendices to each annual Urban Creek Monitoring Report. The links below provide the excerpted POC section from each annual Urban Creeks Monitoring Report, along with the project reports from monitoring work performed directly by CCCWP. The complete contents of all annual UCMRs, including appendices, are also available at this link.
- 2022 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2021 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2020 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2019 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2018 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2017 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- 2016 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring Report (PDF)
- The 2015 Pollutants of Concern Monitoring summary (PDF) described a regional approach to stormwater characterization led by the San Francisco Estuary Institute and updated progress on the Delta Methylmercury Control Study. In addition to nutrients and copper monitoring, studies led by CCCWP included: