To: Terry Young, Ph.D., Chair, and Members
San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board
 

I strongly support the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board’s work to update the rules for protecting San Francisco Bay from trash pollution. These rules are contained in the Municipal Regional Stormwater Permit.

However, I am concerned that the current draft permit prepared by the Water Board staff would weaken protections for San Francisco Bay from trash pollution. The new permit as it is now written will make it more difficult to stop trash pollution in the Bay.

Therefore, I respectfully ask that you reject the draft permit prepared by the Water Board staff, and instruct the Water Board staff to prepare a new draft permit with specific changes. These changes include:

• Require each city to find out how much trash is being carried into San Francisco Bay by rain flowing off paved areas and into storm drains.
• Require each city to take specific actions to keep trash out of the Bay.
• To ensure that the actions cities take actually reduce trash pollution in the Bay, require each city to monitor the amount of trash entering the Bay via its storm drains during storms.
• Remove any provision of the permit that is less stringent than the prior permit and that would lead to more trash and other contamination entering the Bay.

Please develop a strong, enforceable permit that will reduce, and then eliminate, trash pollution in San Francisco Bay.

Thank you.