Water Quality Is Essential to Tribes, Communities, and the Environment
Stockton, CA – On September 13, 2023, California tribal governments and environmental advocacy
organizations will hold an online seminar to explore how Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) impact
communities, tribes, and fish species that depend on clean, flowing rivers and healthy estuaries. The
seminar will focus on algal impacts throughout the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San
Joaquin Delta Estuary.
WHO:
Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, Restore the Delta, San Francisco Baykeeper, and University
of North Carolina.
WHAT:
This online seminar will update journalists about data and findings on HABs outbreaks throughout the
SF Bay-Delta Estuary since 2020. Experts will highlight the difference between freshwater HABs and
saltwater HABs, discuss the importance of San Francisco Bay discharge and Delta flows looking at
new data, provide documented science findings on the link between HABs and air pollution, and
cover Tribal water usage issues with HABs-infested and polluted waters along the Feather River.
WHERE:
Virtually on Zoom:
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
WHY:
The Bay-Delta watershed has experienced numerous encounters with Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs)
in recent years. HABs threaten cultural practices, the environment, and general ways of life. Tribes
from the Bay-Delta watershed have had to forgo ceremonial and cultural activities as HABs have
raised public health concerns with the contamination of water, fish, and plants along embankments.
Environmental Justice communities are suffering from the proliferation of HABs, excluding them from
safely recreating on or near waterways due to resulting air and water pollution. Fish and wildlife are in
distress from the depletion of oxygen HABs create. HABs are an environmental justice and public
health issue. To ensure the safety of tribes, communities, and wildlife, the State Water Board must
implement an updated and proper Bay-Delta plan, with more flows essential to the mitigation of
HABs.