Clean Water News

Industrial facilities dumped over 1.16 million pounds of toxic chemicals into Florida’s waterways, according to a report released today by Environment Florida: Wasting Our Waterways: Industrial Toxic Pollution and the Unfulfilled Promise of the Clean Water Act. The report also finds that toxic chemicals were discharged in 1,900 waterways across all 50 states.

“While nearly half of the rivers and lakes in the U.S. are considered too polluted for safe fishing or swimming, our report shows that polluters continue to use our waterways as dumping grounds for their toxic chemicals,” said Sarah Bucci, Field Associate with Environment Florida.

"Toxic industrial chemicals discharged into our waterways present an unnecessary health hazard; one that can be prevented,” said Commissioner Linda Stewart, Orange County, Florida, District 4. 

The Environment Florida report documents and analyzes the dangerous levels of pollutants discharged in to America’s waters by compiling toxic chemical releases reported to the U.S. EPA’s Toxics Release Inventory for 2007, the most recent data available.

Major findings of the report include:

• Pilgrim’s Pride Processing Plant released 313,654 pounds of toxic chemical waste into the Suwannee River in Florida.  The Pilgrims Pride Processing Plant was the largest reported polluter of toxic chemicals in Florida in 2007. 
• Nationally, 232 million pounds of toxic chemicals were released to American waterways during 2007 by industrial facilities.
• Industrial facilities discharged approximately 2,000 pounds of chemicals linked to cancer into St. John’s River in Florida.

With facilities dumping so much pollution, no one should be surprised that nearly half of our waterways are unsafe for swimming and fishing.  But we should be outraged.

Environment Florida’s report summarizes the discharge of cancer-causing chemicals, chemicals that persist in the environment, and chemicals with the potential to cause reproductive problems ranging from birth defects to reduced fertility. Among the toxic chemicals discharged by facilities are lead, mercury, and dioxin. When dumped into waterways, these toxic chemicals contaminate drinking water and are absorbed by the fish that people eventually eat. Exposure to these chemicals is linked to cancer, developmental disorders, and reproductive disorders.

“We need to restrict the pollutants entering our waterways as these discharges have been shown to cause cancer and other health problems.  A plan by Congress to restore the Clean Water Act to its original form is crucial to the health of our citizens and will compliment health care reform," said Commissioner Stewart.

“There are common-sense steps that should be taken to turn the tide against toxic pollution of our waters,” added Bucci. “We need clean water now, and we need the federal government to act to protect our health and our environment.”

In order to curb the toxic pollution threatening Florida’s waters, Environment Florida recommends the following:

1. Pollution Prevention:  Industrial facilities should reduce their toxic discharges in to waterways by switching from hazardous chemicals to safer alternatives. 
2. Tough permitting and enforcement:  EPA and state agencies should issue permits with tough, numeric limits for each type of toxic pollution discharged, ratchet down those limits over time, and enforce those limits with credible penalties, not just warning letters.
3. Protect all waters:  The federal government should adopt policies to clarify that the Clean Water Act applies to all of our waterways. This includes the thousands of headwaters and small streams for which jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act has been called into question, as a result of recent court decisions.

“We urge Congress and the President to listen to the public’s demands for clean water. They should act to protect all of our lakes, rivers and streams from toxic pollution,” concluded Bucci.

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