Content deleted Content added
SMcCandlish (talk | contribs) Consistent spelling (lowercase per MOS:CAPS, except in proper names like "San Francisco Bay", "[San Francisco] Bay Area", "the Bay Bridge", etc.); link cleanup (incl. adding some additional links per revisions to MOS:RELINK; punctuation and other copyediting. |
Killamator (talk | contribs) →Pollution: added a section on nitrogen and harmful algae |
||
Line 102:
==Pollution==
Industrial, mining, and other uses of [[Mercury (element)|mercury]] have resulted in a widespread distribution in the bay, with uptake in the bay's [[phytoplankton]] and contamination of its sportfish.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.1007/978-0-387-74816-0_2 |journal=Rev Environ Contam Toxicol |year=2008 |volume=194 |pages=29–54 |last1=Conaway |first1=CH |last2=Black |first2=FJ |last3=Grieb |first3=TM |last4=Roy |first4=S |last5=Flegal |first5=AR |title=Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology |chapter=Mercury in the San Francisco Estuary |pmid=18069645 |isbn=978-0-387-74815-3}}</ref> In January 1971, two [[Standard Oil]] tankers collided in the bay, creating an {{convert|800000|USgal|L|abbr=off|sp=us|adj=on}} [[1971 San Francisco Bay oil spill|oil spill disaster]], which spurred environmental protection of the bay. In November 2007, a ship named ''[[MSC Venezia|COSCO Busan]]'' collided with the [[San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge|San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge]] and spilled over {{convert|58000|USgal|L|abbr=off|sp=us}} of [[fuel oil#Bunker fuel|bunker fuel]], creating the largest [[oil spill]] in the region since 1996.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-09-me-bay9-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |first=Eric |last=Bailey |title=Oil oozes in S.F. Bay after ship hits bridge |date=November 9, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190322094319/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-nov-09-me-bay9-story.html |archive-date=March 22, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref>
The bay also has some of the highest levels of dissolved inorganic nitrogen known from any coastal water body, mostly originating from treated wastewater from [[Publicly owned treatment works]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Nutrient Status of San Francisco Bay and Its Management Implications|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-020-00737-w|journal=Estuaries and Coasts|year=2020|volume=43|pages=1299-1317}}</ref> In other bays, such nutrient levels would likely lead to [[eutrophication]], but historically, the bay has had less [[harmful algal blooms]] than other water bodies with similar nutrient concentrations. Potential explanations have included the presence of intensive "top-down control" from grazing clams like ''[[Potamocorbula]]'', high sediment supply limiting light availability for the algae, and intensive tidal mixing. The occurrence of an unprecedented harmful algal bloom of ''[[Heterosigma akashiwo]]'' in 2022, resulting in mass fish deaths and anoxia<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abc7news.com/sf-bay-toxic-algae-turning-water-brown-heterosigma-akashiwo-area-waters/12135158/|title=Harmful algae bloom spreading across San Francisco Bay, turning water brown|author=Liz Kreutz|publisher=ABC7 News}}</ref>, suggests that the mechanisms of control on algal growth may be eroding.
The bay was once considered a hotspot for polybrominated diphenyl ether ([[PBDE]]) flame retardants used to make upholstered furniture and infant care items less flammable. PBDEs have been largely phased out and replaced with alternative phosphate flame retardants. A 2019 [[San Francisco Estuary Institute]] (SFEI) study assayed a wide range of these newer flame retardant chemicals in Bay waters, bivalve [[California mussel]]s (''Mytilus californianus''), and [[harbor seal]]s (''Phoca vitulina'') which haul out in Corkscrew Slough<ref>{{cite gnis|233719|Corkscrew Slough}}</ref> on [[Bair Island]] in [[San Mateo County]], with phosphate flame retardant contaminants such as [[tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate]] (TDCPP) and [[triphenyl phosphate]] (TPhP) found at levels comparable to thresholds for aquatic toxicity.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Characterization of brominated, chlorinated, and phosphate flame retardants in San Francisco Bay, an urban estuary |first1=Rebecca |last1=Sutton |first2=Da |last2=Chen |first3=Jennifer |last3=Sun |first4=Denise J. |last4=Greig |first5=Yan |last5=Wu |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=652 |year=2019 |pages=212–223 |url=https://www.sfei.org/news/rmp-journal-article-characterization-brominated-chlorinated-and-phosphate-flame-retardants-san#sthash.nPaHsoyk.dpbs |access-date=March 16, 2019 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.10.096|pmid=30366322 |bibcode=2019ScTEn.652..212S |doi-access=free }}</ref>
| |||