Statewide Plastics Monitoring Plan & Strategy
Plastics, in their various chemical composition and sizes, pose serious challenges to the vitality of California's ecosystems. Once escaped into the environment, plastic contamination persists for very long periods and breaks down into ever smaller pieces, becoming more readily available to wildlife and populations who live, work, and play in those same habitats.
While California grapples with measures to limit the impacts of macro- and micro-plastics, it must also measure where such plastics are most pervasive, what forms of plastic are most common in the environment, and whether such contamination is declining or increasing. To address these concerns, we often depend on disparate sources of information -- which often vary in quality, resolution, geography, and other important factors -- but an overall statewide perspective and context is currently lacking.
To support the multiple statutory, policy, and regulatory drivers related to plastic pollution, the vision of this project is to develop a phased, multi-year plastics monitoring plan for state ambient waters based on available resources that leverages existing monitoring programs and requirements, as well as to inform monitoring in future programs.
The Vision
- Produce a phased, multi-year plastic monitoring plan, funded by the California Ocean Protection Council and supported by the State Water Resources Control Board
- Advance consistent and coordinated plastics monitoring, data collection, and reporting for ambient waters statewide (large trash/plastic debris & microplastics)
- Inform potential establishment of designated Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program (SWAMP) program
- Inform and identify partners to establish a coordinated plastic monitoring network: federal, state, local, tribal, regional monitoring programs, citizen science
- Initiate pilot monitoring program/network in late 2025 (pending funding and programmatic support)
- Inform future investments in monitoring
This plan is intended to be scalable pending available resources and critically, to inform future investments in plastics monitoring.
The Approach
Recognizing the broad array of stakeholders in the topic of plastics in California's habitats, the approach for informing this plan includes the following components:
- Federal & State Advisory Group: comprised of relevant federal and state agency departments and programs to ensure the final document is consistent with California’s plastic management, monitoring, and science needs
- Technical Experts: to include leading scientific experts in the field of trash and microplastics monitoring, some of whom will participate in a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC)
- Tribal Consultation and Engagement: to inform priority management questions, monitoring locations and design, identify potential TAC members, and identify recommendations to remove barriers for co-management and monitoring
- Community Engagement: to learn community concerns & priorities related to trash & plastic pollution, inform potential monitoring locations, identify potential community partners, and identify community monitoring needs, recommendations, and potential barriers.
Learn more about Community Engagement opportunities.
We welcome your interest, input, and feedback.
Project Timeline
Dates:
2023
Partners:
Funders:
Associated Staff:
Kaitlyn Kalua, OPC
Marie Rainwater, Rainwater & Associates
Esperanza Vielma, EJC4W
Subproject(s):
Programs and Focus Areas:
Microplastics
Software Engineering
Related Projects, News, and Events:
California Trash Monitoring Methods Project (Project)
The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC), in close partnership with the State Water Board, has recognized the importance of standard methods for trash monitoring and has funded this project. The Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) and San Francisco Bay Estuary Institute (SFEI) have partnered up to test multiple trash monitoring methods with a goal of developing a library of methods with known levels of precision, accuracy, and cross-comparability of results, and linking these methods to specific management questions.
Microplastic Pollution in San Francisco Bay (Project)
Plastic pollution is gaining global recognition as a threat to the resilience and productivity of ocean ecosystems. However, we are only just beginning to understand the scope and impacts of microplastic particles (less than 5 mm) on coastal and ocean resources, and the San Francisco Bay Area is no exception. A preliminary study of nine water sites in San Francisco Bay, published in 2016, showed greater levels of microplastics than the Great Lakes or Chesapeake Bay.
Microplastics and Harmful Algal Blooms in California's waters (News)
By May 1, 2017, in time for harmful algal bloom season, a new feature will appear on California's Harmful Algal Bloom portal (http://www.mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/) that displays satellite imagery designed to detect emerging and historical blooms. Using data and algorithms provided by NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, the San Francisco Estuary Institute developed a new tool under the guidance of California's Bio-accumulation Oversight Group.
California Trash Monitoring Playbook now available (News)
With the Ocean Protection Council-funded trash monitoring project concluded, the project team is eager to deliver its results to you. The team has compiled its data, composed its reports, and is now ready to share with you two reports, intended for use by trash-monitoring practitioners and the diverse constellation of stakeholders who benefit from trash-monitoring efforts. Now available on trashmonitoring.org are:
Big problem, small size: Improving methods in microplastics research (News)
When it comes to plastic pollution, that candy wrapper half buried in the dirt is only the tip of the iceberg. Plastic bags, cigarette butts, and bottle caps are not just an eyesore, but over time they break down in the environment, creating small pieces of debris known as microplastics. Microplastics can include anything from synthetic fibers of clothing to industrial pellets from the plastic manufacturing process. Microplastics are now ubiquitous in our environment--found in our air, drinking water, sediment, and in the San Francisco Bay and global ocean.
In LA Times: The SF Bay Microplastics report called "the most comprehensive study to date on microplastics in California." (News)
Rosanna Xia with the LA Times relates some important findings from the new microplastics study, released today by SFEI and 5 Gyres:
"Driving is not just an air pollution and climate change problem — turns out, it just might be the largest contributor of microplastics in California coastal waters.
California Trash Data Dive 2018 (News)
On November 16, 2018, the project team helped to coordinate a Trash Data Dive convened by the State Water Board’s Office of Information Management and Analysis. Hosted at SFEI’s offices, the Trash Data Dive was well-attended and drew participants from all over California to discuss the opportunities to address entrenched problems with respect to trash-related information.
SFEI science informs state policy on microplastic pollution (News)
Last week, the Governor signed AB 888, a bill that bans microplastic beads in personal care products. Companies have until 2020 to phase out the use of these "microbeads." California now has strongest state law in the nation on this issue.
SFEI science played a key role in informing policymakers about microbeads and microplastic pollution. Media stories on a Regional Monitoring Program study of microplastics in San Francisco Bay water and treated wastewater broadcast the latest findings to a wide audience. The study indicated that our Bay had higher levels of microplastic pollution than the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. Clearly identifiable microbeads derived from personal care products were detected at all nine sites examined in San Francisco Bay.