Recent sampling efforts undertaken by Humboldt Waterkeeper and the California Coastkeeper Alliance have found “high concentrations” of pollutants that kill coho salmon in runoff from area parking lots. The organizations are sponsoring AB 1313 to establish statewide commercial, industrial and institutional stormwater permitting standards. They say that the bill would help ameliorate those concentrations of toxins and encourage parking lot owners to create bioswales that filter runoff of the potentially lethal pollutants.Jennifer Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Waterkeeper, told the Times-Standard that the organization recently received a small grant to study a “toxic tire preservative” called 6PPD and its derivative 6PPD-quinone (or 6PPD-q) after previous studies in the San Francisco Bay and Seattle area had determined that the compound, which breaks down and is deposited on roads and in parking lots due to the regular wear and tear of car tires, was causing salmon deaths.Kalt said that Humboldt Waterkeeper’s pilot study confirmed that, even in smaller, less urban communities like Humboldt County, concentrations of 6PPD represent a serious problem. She said that adding bioswales to older parking lots would represent a relatively inexpensive and immediate solution as manufacturers and regulators work to eliminate 6PPD.Keep Reading
Recent sampling efforts undertaken by Humboldt Waterkeeper and the California Coastkeeper Alliance have found “high concentrations” of pollutants that kill coho salmon in runoff from area parking lots. The organizations are sponsoring AB 1313 to establish statewide commercial, industrial and institutional stormwater permitting standards. They say that the bill would help ameliorate those concentrations of toxins and encourage parking lot owners to create bioswales that filter runoff of the potentially lethal pollutants.Jennifer Kalt, executive director of Humboldt Waterkeeper, told the Times-Standard that the organization recently received a small grant to study a “toxic tire preservative” called 6PPD and its derivative 6PPD-quinone (or 6PPD-q) after previous studies in the San Francisco Bay and Seattle area had determined that the compound, which breaks down and is deposited on roads and in parking lots due to the regular wear and tear of car tires, was causing salmon deaths.Kalt said that Humboldt Waterkeeper’s pilot study confirmed that, even in smaller, less urban communities like Humboldt County, concentrations of 6PPD represent a serious problem. She said that adding bioswales to older parking lots would represent a relatively inexpensive and immediate solution as manufacturers and regulators work to eliminate 6PPD.Keep Reading
