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Clean Up Crawls Ahead?

Clean-up plans for the seven worst toxic hot spots in San Francisco Bay were released for a 30-day public review this December. "These plans are pretty generic," says Karen Taberski of the S.F. Regional Water Quality Board, which developed the plans to meet requirements of the state's Bay Protection and Toxic Clean Up Program. "They basically lay out the process by which clean up should take place." The process is already in motion for the top-ranked sites (see map): the Board used its current regulatory authority to ask responsible parties to define the aerial extent of the contamination, ascertain appropriate clean-up methods and submit feasibility studies to the Board.

The Peyton Slough site - located in an old copper smelting area and harboring the highest copper and zinc levels in the Bay Protection Program database statewide - is already a few steps ahead of the game, says Taberski. Efforts already underway to restore the adjacent Shell Marsh (where oil spilled in 1988) and reduce flooding along Highway 680 include dredging of Peyton Slough - paving the way for removal and capping of offending sediments.

Another site, the Bay itself - listed because eating its PCB and mercury laced fish is dangerous to human health - obviously has no single responsible party. Here the Board's plan is more fleshed out and includes clean up of New Almaden Mine (a mercury source) and Point Potrero (a PCB and mercury source), as well as investigations into other sources watershedwide, regional restrictions on further inputs to the Bay's total mercury load, and public education about fish consumption and pollution prevention. Approval of the Boards plans is expected by this February, after which they go to the Sacramento for inclusion in statewide plans.

Contact: Karen Taberski (510)622-2424 (for technical information on site testing and ranking see Now in Print)

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