Many industrial facilities discharge polluted runoff into storm drains that lead to our creeks, rivers, and bays. If uncontrolled, that runoff may contain high concentrations of pollutants, such as toxic metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. These contaminants place a heavy burden on fish and other animals. For example, copper – found in motor vehicle brake linings, pesticides and building materials – is highly toxic in the aquatic environment. Other pollutants, such as mercury, dioxins, and PCBs, accumulate in fish tissues, causing health problems for the predators and the humans who eat them.

(Or watch the video on our Facebook Page.)

In 1962, Rachel Carson warned of the dangers of man-made chemicals to wildlife and to humans in her book, Silent Spring, concluding that "our fate is connected with the animals." The effects of synthetic chemicals on wildlife include:

• Decreased hatching success
• Birth defects and fertility Problems
• Behavior abnormalities
• Compromised immune systems
• Cancers

Rachel Carson was right. It is now widely known that man-made chemicals, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals, are  indeed affecting wildlife and human health.

EcoRights identifies pollution sources and, by exercising our citizens’ rights to enforce the federal Clean Water Act and other state and federal laws, we take steps to ensure those sources are cleaned up.  We make uthe owners of polluting facilities reduce their discharges to legal and acceptable levels. At some facilities, that may require the excavation and removal of contaminated soils and sediments. At other facilities, it might only require the implementation of better waste and pollutant management practices, such as sediment traps, oil/water separators, or merely sweeping up and keeping industrial materials under covered areas.    

Under the federal Clean Water Act (aka Federal Water Pollution Control Act), each state must evaluate which of its water bodies are impaired by pollution. In California, the state and regional water boards assess the state’s waterways every two years to see if they meet water quality standards for beneficial uses, such as the protection of wildlife, human recreation, or drinking water. If the state or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds the level of pollution in a water body is higher than recommended levels, the state must include that water body on their 303(d) list of impaired waters, and work to identify and limit the pollution sources.

Sea lions at Elkhorn Slough, an impaired water body.

Over 1,000 of California’s water bodies are listed as impaired. Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties alone contain almost 100 impaired rivers, creeks, sloughs, and lakes. Pollution types include pathogens, excess nutrients, sediment, and toxic chemicals such as pesticides. The pollution comes from diverse sources, such as agriculture, industrial facilities, municipal sewage discharges, urban runoff, and construction projects.

EcoRights, through its research and sampling programs, identifies impaired water bodies and petitions to have them added to California’s 303(d) list.

For example, in 2006 EcoRights and its Humboldt Baykeeper program successfully petitioned the California State Water Resources Control Board and the EPA to add Humboldt Bay to the 303(d) list for dioxin contamination, thereby forcing state agencies to take steps to reduce dioxin pollution.

The State Water Resources Control Board considered several sets of water quality data submitted by EcoRights. The data sources included shellfish tissues samples collected by EcoRights near the Sierra Pacific Industries Arcata Mill, and oyster tissue samples collected by an independent consulting firm hired by Sierra Pacific Industries as part of a settlement agreement in our Clean Water Act lawsuit. Dioxin levels found in some Humboldt Bay oysters were four times higher than the EPA’s “do not consume” level, and most samples exceeded the human health screening level set by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA).

Understanding that our health, economic prosperity, recreation, and wildlife depend on clean, abundant sources of water, in 1972 the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Water Act with overwhelming support. The Act declares that “It is the national goal that the discharge of pollutants into navigable waters be eliminated by 1985.” People understood that we cannot go on using our water supplies as our sewers. The Clean Water Act led to many victories in cleaning up our rivers, lakes, and oceans.

But the goal was not met, and the work is far from done. Despite over 40 years of cleaning up our waters, there are still over 1,000 water bodies in California alone that do not meet healthy water quality standards.

EcoRights fights to stop water pollution by using grassroots outreach & education, performing empirical water sampling and analysis, and promoting citizen enforcement of the Clean Water Act.