The San Francisco Estuary (SFE) has also experienced declining primary productivity (Jassby et al., 2002) while receiving increased nutrient loading (Jassby, 2008). It is the largest estuary on the west coast of the US and highly impacted by the
urban centers of the San Francisco Bay Area (San Francisco, Oaklandand San Jose) and the City of Sacramento and receives nutrient inputs from more than 80 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WTPs) with varying levels of effluent treatment.