POLLUTION PREVENTION

This year, 2022, is the 50th anniversary of the federal Clean Water Act (CWA). Yet, despite the Act’s promise of clean water for all and making major improvements in reducing the amount of pollutants entering our waterways since its passage in 1972, we remain far from achieving the CWA’s promise to “eliminate all discharge of pollutants into the navigable waters by 1985”. After making tremendous strides in reducing sewage spills, thanks largely to LA Waterkeeper’s litigation and advocacy, and reducing pollution directly from industrial facilities, today it is industrial and urban stormwater runoff that is the most prevalent source of pollution to the region’s waters. 

LA sees an astounding 100 billion gallons of runoff every year. This ‘urban slobber’ carries pesticides and herbicides from our homes; oils and grease from our roads; heavy metals and other toxins from Los Angeles’ businesses; and trash, bacteria, and other contaminants from local communities, all of which flows untreated into our rivers, creeks, lakes, and ocean. Runoff threatens public health, our environment, and economic health; causes flooding and other impacts that hurt many of our most impacted communities, and is a waste of an invaluable resource that could be captured and treated to augment local water supplies. LA Waterkeeper’s efforts to address ongoing pollution of our waterways focus predominantly on regulatory and legal enforcement around industrial and urban stormwater runoff regulations, as well as education and advocacy, while also tracking other sources of pollution to ensure there is no backsliding of gains already made.

Community Water Watch

We collaborate with local organizations, community groups, and volunteers from highly impacted communities throughout LA to help identify violating facilities and advocate for healthier waterways in their communities. Through our Community Water Watch program (CWW), we seek to ensure that community members living in LA’s most impacted industrial areas have the tools, training, and resources to identify toxic runoff and hold polluters and regulators accountable. We work with our partners to train members of impacted communities in water quality sampling and identify the types of toxins flowing through their streets, educate their neighbors and family concerning water quality indicators, and use data collected to advocate for and support a healthier environment. When litigation is required to bring facilities into compliance, our team works to incorporate Supplemental Environmental Projects (SEPs) in settlement agreements to ensure funds are reinvested back into local communities to mitigate prior environmental harms done.

Over the last 24-months alone, we’ve brought a dozen polluting industrial facilities in LA’s most impacted communities into compliance with Clean Water Act standards through legal settlements, helping preserve the health and safety of our precious water resources; supported by scientifically defensible stormwater samples collected through CWW.

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