New Campaign to Curb Industrial Pollution in the Bay
Baykeeper is launching our new Bay-Safe Industry campaign to rein in widespread, illegal runoff into San Francisco Bay from industrial facilities.
Industrial storm water runoff is a major source of Bay pollution. More than 1,000 Bay Area industrial facilities are violating the Clean Water Act during the rainy season, polluting the Bay with toxics that include heavy metals and petroleum hydrocarbons. These contaminants place a heavy burden on the Bay’s fish and other wildlife. For example, salmon exposed to copper pollution lose their senses of smell and their ability to find their spawning streams or evade predators. Nickel is lethal to birds.
While 95% of Bay Area industrial facilities have violated the Clean Water Act in recent years, underfunded California regulatory agencies annually inspect and require improvements at fewer than 5% of all industrial facilities in the region. Additionally, current regulations are not effective enough to adequately control industrial storm water pollution.
Our Bay-Safe Industry campaign builds on Baykeeper’s long history of winning pollution control improvements at Bay Area industrial facilities. The campaign includes outreach and education to industrial facilities to help them better control storm water pollution; advocacy for tighter regulation and better control of this pollution; and legal action to compel polluters to stop contaminating the Bay.
Read more about industrial storm water pollution and Baykeeper’s Bay-Safe Industry campaign.
Photo by Marcin Wichary (Flickr/CC)
