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A weekend sunning on a San Diego beach.
An afternoon watching sea otters play in Monterey Bay . From
the surf of Malibu to the
shores of San Francisco Bay, California's bays and beaches are
central to our way of life.
Despite their importance, our bays and
beaches are severely polluted with bacteria, trash, oil and a
host of toxic chemicals. In 2005, high levels of dangerous
bacteria caused more than 5,000 beach closings or health
advisories. Scientists estimate that swimming in polluted
water off Southern California's coasts makes 1.5 million
people sick each year.
Number of Beach Closings/Advisories in
Selected CA Counties in
2005*
Los Angeles County: 2,213 (highest number in state)
Orange County: 613
Santa Cruz: 51
San Diego: 367
Bay Area (SF,
San Mateo,
Contra
Costa, Marin): 552
* From Natural Resources Defense Council, Testing the Waters
2006
This pollution not only threatens our
health, it also threatens wildlife. Scientists estimate that
90 percent of Santa Monica Bay is polluted at levels that can
harm marine life. Plastic washed into our oceans affects 86
percent of all sea turtle species.
Pollution in our bays and beaches comes
from several sources, but the single largest source is storm
drains. Storm drain pollution is created when rain hits
pavement and instead of sinking into the ground like it would
in a natural setting, storm water picks up the bacteria,
trash, toxic metals and other pollutants that accumulate in
parking lots, roads and lawns. This 'urban slobber' then
courses through our roads in mini 'rivers of pollution' into
storm drains and out directly into our waterways and into the
waters we swim in. Storm drains dump so much bacteria and
toxic chemicals into our ocean waters that the California
Department of Health Services warns swimmers to stay out of
the ocean for three days after it rains.
The first step in greening our cities
and stopping storm drain pollution is to require all
developers in California to
build new developments with enough green space to stop rain
from washing into storm drains. Progress toward this goal has
already begun -- water officials in
San Diego,
Los Angeles and
San Francisco are moving
forward with laws that would protect San Diego beaches, the
Malibu surf and San Francisco Bay from storm drain pollution.
Once these local protections are passed, we can extend them to
bays and beaches across the state.
Developers, however, are fighting
against this progress, and fighting hard. To stop the local
proposals, in San Diego,
they've sued; in Orange County
they're trying to pass dirty water legislation; and in
San Francisco they've hired
high priced lobbyists to fight proposed clean water measures.
Water officials in our local communities
need help now to pass strong clean water laws to protect our
beaches from storm drain pollution. By supporting local laws
to curb storm drain pollution in
L.A., San Francisco,
San Diego and
Orange County the governor
will protect precious places like the shores of
San Diego, the surf of
Malibu and San Francisco
Bay from their biggest pollution threat.
Gov. Schwarzenegger should protect our
beaches and bays from storm drain pollution by immediately
supporting strong local laws that require developers to build
developments with green spaces that prevent 85 percent of
storm drain pollution.
To e-mail the governor, click on the
link below or copy and paste it into your Web browser. Then,
ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
to them.
https://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/bays-and-beaches?id4=ES
Sincerely,
Dan Jacobson
Environment California
Legislative Director
DanJ@environmentcalifornia.org
http://www.EnvironmentCalifornia.org
P.S. Thanks again for your support.
Please feel free to share this e-mail with your family and
friends.
Hi Eileen,
From the surf of
Malibu to the shores of San Francisco Bay, California's
bays and beaches are central to our way of life. But our
beaches and bays are so polluted that millions of Californians
get sick every year.
The single largest source of pollution
in our bays and beaches is storm drains. Every time it rains,
they dump dangerous bacteria, trash, oil and toxic chemicals
into the water we swim in.
The good news is that we can protect our
beaches from storm drain pollution with more green space in
our cities that allow rain to soak into the ground instead of
washing pollution into storm drains. Local water officials
have started moving forward with plans to increase green
space, but developers are fighting these laws. Now we need
Gov. Schwarzenegger to give local water officials the backing
they need to stand up to powerful developers.
People overwhelming support reducing
water pollution and over 4,350 of you have already emailed
Gov. Schwarzenegger. Can you help us hit 6,000?
To e-mail the governor, click on the
link below or copy and paste it into your Web browser. Then,
ask your friends and family to help by forwarding this message
to them.
https://www.environmentcalifornia.org/action/oceans/bays-and-beaches?id4=ES
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