Let's make it safer for all fish consumers, and let's do it sooner!

The Central Valley Regional Water Board will decide on adopting a draft clean-up plan, known as a TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), this summer to address mercury pollution in the Delta.

The proposed plan has both positive and negative features and we need your help to ensure that we keep the beneficial aspects and correct the flaws. Specifically, Clean Water Action supports the plan's focus on methylmercury (the form that collects in living things so that people are exposed by eating highly contaminated fish).

By reducing this form of mercury in the short term, we can help protect people and wildlife who eat Delta fish over the many decades it will take to completely clean up the watershed.

We oppose the goal set by the plan's authors however, to bring down mercury levels so that it will be safe to eat one meal a week of Delta-caught fish. This will mean that people who fish more often because of cultural tradition or economic need will continue to be at risk. We also oppose the proposed 8-year delay in implementing mercury reduction strategies while further studies are done.

Delta Residents: Please Take Action Now!

Please take a moment to write a quick letter to the Central Valley Regional Board to support the methylmercury focus of the clean-up plan and to urge them to set clean-up goals that are in line with actual fishing practices in the Delta and to do away with the 8-year delay currently in the plan.

Below is a sample letter that you can use as a model for your own.

Date

Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board
c/o Pamela C. Creedon, Executive Officer
11020 Sun Center Drive #200
Rancho Cordova, CA 95670-6114

Dear Regional Board Members,

As a resident of the region, I strongly support the focus on methylmercury in the proposed clean up plan (TMDL) for the Delta as a way to protect our fishing communities. However, the plan's goals should be in line with actual fishing practices, which is why I urge you to chose a fish tissue target of 142.4 grams/day. Furthermore, the plan should require reductions of total mercury immediately, instead of delaying such efforts for 8 years as currently proposed.

Sincerely,
Your Name
Your Address