The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded about $5.2 million for water protection and restoration projects in the San Francisco Bay Area.
San Francisco Bay is a designated “ estuary of national significance ” under the Clean Water Act.
The bay and its tributary streams, situated in an urban area with more than seven million people, provide crucial fish and wildlife habitat at the heart of the larger Bay-Delta Estuary.
Alexis Strauss, EPA’s Acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest, announced the funding yesterday at the 13th Biennial State of the San Francisco Estuary Conference in Oakland.
The following organizations received EPA grants for projects that benefit San Francisco Bay and its watersheds:
EPA also awarded a combined $878,245 to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG) to protect and restore water quality in and around the bay.
ABAG will also receive a $278,245 wetland grant to work in partnership with the San Francisco Estuary Institute on the development of a Bay Area wetland regional monitoring plan. The plan will provide a consistent way to measure over time how tidal wetlands are responding to both restoration efforts and stressors (such as sea level rise).