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Dredging, Wetlands Creation, & Ecosystem Protection: Finding the Right Balance for SF Bay. LTMS Methylmercury and Dredging Symposium January 28, 2010 Dyan Whyte, Assistant Executive Officer. Framework for addressing Mercury in SF Bay is the TMDL.
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Dredging, Wetlands Creation, & Ecosystem Protection: Finding the Right Balance for SF Bay LTMS Methylmercury and Dredging Symposium January 28, 2010 Dyan Whyte, Assistant Executive Officer
Established Water Quality Objectives for SF Bay 0.2 ppm mercury in large predator fish 0.03 ppm mercuryin prey fish California least tern
TMDL Implementation Dredging and In-Bay Disposal • Load Allocation = Zero • Implement LTMS • Restrictions on In-Bay Disposal • Sed. Hg conc. < ambient (0.53 ppm) • Operations shall not cause an increase in Hg bioavailability
TMDL ImplementationWetlands Creation & Restoration • No net increase in Hg or MeHg loads • Requirements in WDRs/401 WQ Certs to manage existing wetlands and ensure newly constructed wetlands are designed to minimize MeHg production and biological uptake • Pre- and post-restoration monitoring • Adaptive Implementation
Dredging + Desire for More Wetlands = Beneficial Reuse • Cover and Non-cover reuse requirements • Non-cover subject to strict controls • Min 3 feet below surface at anaerobic depths below tide line • Min 200 feet from future higher order channels
Current Approach to Adaptive Management • Biosentinels • Baseline • Triggers • Evaluate management actions • Learning project by project
Discussion Topics • RMP Hg strategy asks the right questions, is enough being done to answer them? • Identifying the right biosentinels & triggers is critical • How reversible do actions need to be? • Regional Monitoring Approach – Is there a need to formalize?