Clean water is essential to California’s quality of life. Our environment, health and economy all depend on it. Unfortunately, some users are degrading the state’s rivers, streams, lakes, bays and underground aquifers in two fundamental ways: First, a broad range of industries continue to pollute our waters with toxic chemicals, bacteria, and nutrients – leaving a legacy of contaminated drinking water supplies, fish advisories, and beach closings. Second, agriculture and other industries continue to waste our water – squandering millions of gallons of this precious resource and, in many cases, disrupting the natural flow of waterways upon which fragile ecosystems depend. To make matters worse, people have too little say in how and how much water is used. Many decisions affecting the quality and quantity of water are made without sufficient public scrutiny.
Take the following examples,
* The State of California lists more than 500 lakes, rivers, bays and other water bodies as seriously polluted;
* Studies conducted by the University of California detected 57 toxic pesticides in tributaries to the San Joaquin River, a source of drinking water to 16 million Californians. Perchlorate – the major ingredient in rocket fuel – also pollutes more than 400 drinking water sources across the state;
* A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Irvine, found that exposure to polluted waters off the coast of Orange County is linked to 74,000 incidents of stomach illness, respiratory disease and eye, ear and skin infections each year.
* In 2002, low volumes of water released through dams on the Klamath River for agricultural irrigation purposes caused one of the most massive fish kills - tens of thousands of fish – in the state’s history.
That’s why Environment California is working to reverse decades of pollution and ensure that every lake, river, bay, and underground aquifer is safe to drink from, swim in and fish from.
To achieve these goals, Environment California supports several concrete measures bring these ideals from principles into practice. Curbing water pollution will require tougher permits and land use policies, as well as aggressive enforcement. Stopping the waste of water will require minimum efficiency standards for industrial and agricultural uses, an end to government subsidies that promote water-intensive activities in parched climates, and safeguards to ensure that diversions do not adversely affect the natural flow of rivers and streams. Finally, the public must have timely access to information regarding water quality and uses, and a meaningful role in decisions affecting our waters.
