Stop Wastewater Pollution

California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) campaigns to hold wastewater polluters accountable, to enforce existing laws under the federal Clean Water Act and to reduce wastewater pollution in the state overall. This campaign involves taking action through regulatory proceedings and by taking legal action when necessary.

Sewage spills and overflows are serious public health and environmental hazards.  They evidence a failure to provide adequate facilities and acceptable levels of maintenance, reflect poor environmental management, indicate an outrageous disregard for the health of Californians and pose a clear threat to the integrity and survival of the state’s fish and wildlife resources particularly in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Delta).

Because local business and industry discharge into the sewage system, sewage can contain numerous dangerous chemical solvents, heavy metals like lead and mercury and wastes that can cause toxicity and impair immune and reproductive systems of fish and wildlife.  Pathogens in untreated sewage can cause a multitude of illnesses in humans.  Californians may be exposed to these pathogens when swimming, waterskiing, wading, fishing, or boating in local waterways and the Delta, as well as when sewage spills into homes, streets, parks, schools and businesses.

Waterways in and around Sacramento and the Delta are a prime example of just how serious the issue of wastewater pollution is in California. Waterways in and around Sacramento and the Delta are identified as “impaired” under the Clean Water Act (CWA) and are among the most polluted waters in the state.  

Numerous fish species that reside in the Delta or use the Delta as a migratory corridor are protected under state and federal endangered species acts.  Pollution has been identified as one of the three principle causes of the present catastrophic crash of pelagic species in the Delta and declining salmonid populations in the Central Valley.

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Recent News

Stop Wastewater Pollution Campaign

SF Estuary/Delta Needs Long Overdue Protections from Ballast Water Discharges

By Cindy Charles CSPA, along with over a dozen other environmental organizations, recently signed on to a comment letter supporting limits on the discharge of ships’ ballast water into the Bay-Delta Estuary.  The letter was sent to the San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP) for consideration in the 2022-2027 San Francisco Estuary Blueprint. The comment letter […]

CSPA Says No Again to Suction Dredging Mining

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance, along with 19 other conservation, fisheries and community organizations, submitted comments on March 5, 2021 to the California State Water Resources Control Board on a proposed National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit for Suction Dredges Mining Discharges. Suction dredge mining was prohibited in California in 2009.  In 2015, […]

CSPA Seeks to Protect Sacramento River from High Temperature and Toxic Metal Wastewater Discharges

In January 2013, CSPA filed a lawsuit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) for violations of the Clean Water Act in issuing a permit to the Sacramento Regional Sanitation District (SacRegional) for wastewater discharges to the Sacramento River. CSPA prevailed and, in October 2014, the Court ordered the Regional Board […]

CSPA Wins Major Clean Water Act Lawsuit Against Water Board

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) prevailed in a lawsuit against the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) regarding the wastewater discharge permit for the Sacramento Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant (Treatment Plant).  Sacramento Superior Court Judge Michael P. Kenny ruled, on 18 August 2014, that the Regional Board’s permit violated explicit federal […]

CSPA Issues Notice of Intent to Sue Sacramento Concrete Facility

On 6 August 2014, CSPA sent a Notice of Intent to Hanson Pipe and Precast, LLC for violations of the substantive and procedural requirements of the federal Clean Water Act and California’s General Industrial Stormwater Permit.  Hanson Pipe and Precast operates a 53-acre concrete products facility, in Sacramento, that discharges polluted stormwater to channels that […]