There’s more than just water and fish out there in the San Francisco Bay, and a new study shows it’s not all pretty. A three-year review of the Bay Area's waterways has found that an estimated 7 trillion tiny pieces of plastic -- from plastic packaging, utensils, tire tread and even synthetic fabrics -- are washed away by rainwater into the Bay each and every year. It's an astronomical number that suggests that if we haven't already reached an ecological tipping point yet, we are on track to get there eventually. 

On this edition of KCBS In Depth we speak with some of the researchers behind the study to learn more about what all this plastic could be doing to the Bay's delicate ecosystem, and what could be changed to stem the flow of plastic particles. 

Guests:

• Rebecca Sutton, a senior scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute
• Carolynn Box, who works as the science programs director at 5 Gyres, a nonprofit research group searching for ways to reduce plastic pollution

Host: KCBS Radio reporter Keith Menconi