Water quality of south San Francisco Bay and Coyote Creek after failure of the San Jose-Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant I. 17 September - 10 October 1979

Data are presented to document some short-term biological and chemical consequences of a sewage spill in the southern area of San Francisco Bay and its receiving-water tributary, Coyote Creek. Sampling was conducted at fixed U.S. Geological Survey stations in South Bay, and at six new stations in Coyote Creek, on 17, 20, 25, 26 September and 3, 10 October 1979. Measured water-quality parameters were: salinity; temperature; turbidity; concentrations of selected dissolved gases (oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ethylene, ethane); concentrations of dissolved inorganic nutrients (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, phosphate, silicate); and concentrations of chlorophyll a and phaeopigments, total coliforms, fecal coliforms, and fecal streptococci. Rates of oxygen utilization and photosynthetic production were measured at selected stations.