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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Stop Wastewater Pollution Campaign